WELCOME TO IWPRS TRIBUNAL UPDATE No. 513, August 17, 2007 COURTSIDE:
PRLIC TRIAL HEARS OF MOSTARS DESTRUCTION Former United Nations police officer says Croat paramilitaries shelling and siege of Mostar made life almost unbearable for Bosniaks. By Merdijana Sadovic in Sarajevo BRIEFLY NOTED: GOTOVINA SEEKS HOUSE ARREST PENDING TRIAL Croatian government offers guarantees the general will return to face trial. By Merdijana Sadovic in Sarajevo TWO MORE DEFENDANTS WANT TO CONDUCT THEIR OWN CASES Defendant Zdravko Tolimir says his lawyer was placed under undue pressure. By Merdijana Sadovic in Sarajevo **** IWPR RESOURCES ****************************************************************** SAHAR JOURNALISTS ASSISTANCE FUND: IWPR is establishing a fund, in honour of Sahar al-Haideri, to support journalist participants in its training and reporting programmes around the world. The Sahar Journalists Assistance Fund will be used to support local journalists in cases of exile or disability, or to assist their families in case of death in service. 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By Merdijana Sadovic in Sarajevo A witness testifying in the trial of six Bosnian Croat officials, which resumed this week after the summer recess, described the appalling conditions endured by the Bosniak, or Bosnian Muslim, population during the Croat siege of the city of Mostar 14 years ago. Larry Charles Forbes told the court that Bosniak civilians were not just expelled from the Croat-held part of Mostar on the west bank of the Neretva river to the east side, but were also exposed to constant shelling and sniper fire from the Croat positions during the time he spent in this city. Forbes, who was a member of the United Nations civilian police during the 1993-94 Croat-Muslim conflict in Bosnia, said Bosniaks were forced to live in concrete basements without running water and electricity, and were cut off from food and medical supplies for months. Jadranko Prlic, Bruno Stojic, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj Petkovic, Valentin Coric and Berislav Pusic are charged with crimes committed against the Bosniak population during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. The indictment against the six states that the authorities of the self-proclaimed Croat territory of Herceg-Bosna claimed Mostar as its capital when it came into existence in 1991. It says that in May 1993, the Herceg-Bosna forces or HVO attacked and expelled hundreds, if not thousands of Bosniak men, women, children and elderly into east Mostar, while hundreds of others were detained at the Heliodrom prison in the town. This action resulted in Mostar being divided between HVO and Bosnian army forces, with most of the Bosniak civilians of the town surrounded in a small area east of the river, while Bosnian Croats and HVO forces occupied the west bank. By June 1993, the Herceg-Bosna/HVO forces had commenced a siege against east Mostar which continued to April 1994 and involved continual shelling, sniper fire, blocking of humanitarian aid and horrible deprivations, directed against the Bosnian Muslims in east Mostar, the indictment continues. Forbes told the court this week that he arrived in the Balkans in May 1993 and was transferred to the Mostar region on June 28, where he was based until the end of that year. His task was to liaise with the local police and also to assess the situation on the ground. Forbes said that before he arrived in Mostar, he had been told that Bosnian Croats and Muslims fought together against Serbs, but once the Serbs were driven out from this area, Croats attacked the Muslims, and they started fighting against each other. He said the attack caught the Bosniaks by surprise. A lot of Bosniak police officers who were over on the other side were captured and taken prisoner or shot dead, he told the court. When Prlics lawyer Michael Karnavas said the witnesss claim that the Croat forces attacked first was hearsay and could not be admitted into evidence, Forbes said he had heard the same thing from many Bosniak police officers and civilians he talked to while he was in Mostar. He said when he arrived in east Mostar, he was shocked by the devastation he saw. This part of the town was exposed to savage shelling and sniper fire from HVO positions on the west bank and on Mount Hum, which overlooks the city, Forbes said. According to the witness, the targets of these attacks were not military objects, but civilian buildings and the Bosniak population. He said he never saw any military barracks on the east side of the river, nor large number of Bosnian Army, ABiH, troops. Forbes added that HVO forces sometimes aimed at UN vehicles as well, and that in one of these attacks, which took place just before he arrived in Mostar, a Spanish soldier was killed. He said he was involved in the investigation into this incident, which concluded that the fire came from HVO positions on the west bank. The witness told the court that due to the constant shelling of east Mostar, Bosniaks were forced to live in basements and shelters with concrete floors and walls, which were overcrowded, very dusty and dirty. He said there was no running water there, no electricity, and he hadnt seen any toilets either. Forbes also said the HVO controlled the power in the area, which, according to him, explained why the electricity was cut off in east part of the city. He stated that from his armoured vehicle parked on the streets of Mostar, he often witnessed civilians daily struggle to escape HVO snipers. They used various methods to get across the street - some would crawl, some would stand tall and run as fast as they could, and some ran in a zigzag pattern to avoid the bullets, he said. HVO snipers shot at everyone - women, children and the elderly. When asked by Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti how he could tell the snipers were positioned in the HVO-controlled area, Forbes said he knew by the the angle of fire. Also, Im sure that the ABiH would not be shooting at their own soldiers, let alone women and children, he added. Forbes said the last time he saw east Mostar, in winter 1993, it was being shelled from HVO positions on Mount Hum, the buildings were burning and there were fires everywhere. That particular night I left was as bad as ever. During cross-examination of the witness, one of the accused, Slobodan Praljak who represents himself in court put it to Forbes that some of the heavy shelling he witnessed was, in fact, an HVO response to ABiH attacks on their positions. In the course of your testimony, you said several times that the ABiH did not have heavy weapons. How do you know that? asked Praljak. What I meant is that I never saw any heavy weapons on the east side of Mostar, Forbes responded. Do you claim that if you didnt see any heavy weapons, that means they didnt exist? Praljak continued. But the witness appeared unmoved. I didnt hear any heavy weapons firing from their side, nor did I see any. Thats all I know, he said. The trial continues next week. Merdijana Sadovic is IWPRs Hague project manager. BRIEFLY NOTED: GOTOVINA SEEKS HOUSE ARREST PENDING TRIAL Croatian government offers guarantees the general will return to face trial. By Merdijana Sadovic in Sarajevo Lawyers representing Croatian general Ante Gotovina have asked judges to allow their client to await trial under house arrest in Croatia. Ante Gotovinas defence counsel Luka Misetic told Croatian television last week that the defence team had requested house arrest for Gotovina because he had not surrendered to the United Nations court voluntarily and had been on the run for years - an aggravating circumstance which called for additional guarantees. Gotovina is indicted for war crimes committed against Serb civilians during the Croatian forces Operation Storm offensive of 1995. He was arrested in December 2005 in the Canary Islands after being on the run for four years, and has been in the Hague detention unit ever since. A submission filed by his lawyers on August 8 was supported by a guarantee given by the Croatian government and signed by Prime Minister Ivo Sanader that Gotovina would return in time for his trial and would not pose a danger to anyone. Defence lawyer Luka Misetic added that the general would wear an electronic tag at all times, which would enable the police to track his whereabouts and would immediately alert them to any violation of the terms of his house arrest. Gotovinas co-accused, generals Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac, are already awaiting trial at home, under certain restrictions. A response to this request is expected in early September. TWO MORE DEFENDANTS WANT TO CONDUCT THEIR OWN CASES Defendant Zdravko Tolimir says his lawyer was placed under undue pressure. By Merdijana Sadovic in Sarajevo Bosnian Serbs Zdravko Tolimir and Milan Lukic are the latest addition to a growing list of Hague indictees who wish to represent themselves in court. On August 6, they both filed requests for permission to exercise this right. Tolimir, who is charged in relation to the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, informed the court that he had decided to represent himself in court since his legal counsel of choice, Belgrade attorney Nebojsa Mrkic, had been put under what he called undue pressure. In his submission of August 6, Tolimir said the candidate for his permanent counsel was even called to the office of the Chief Prosecutor [Carla Del Ponte] for a talk, which he said was without legal precedent. Due to all these facts, I have decided to defend myself in person, Tolimir concluded. Meanwhile, Milan Lukic - who is charged with crimes against Bosniak population in the eastern Bosnian town of Visegrad in 1992 - informed the court that he is currently unrepresented since withdrawing power of attorney from counsel Alan Yatvin. He added that if ongoing talks in connection with the appointment of another counsel end without results, I will have to represent myself. **** www.iwpr.net ******************************************************************** TRIBUNAL UPDATE, the publication arm of IWPR's International Justice Project, produced since 1996, details the events and issues at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, at The Hague. These weekly reports, produced by IWPR's human rights and media training project, seek to contribute to regional and international understanding of the war crimes prosecution process. The opinions expressed in Tribunal Update are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the publication or of IWPR. Tribunal Update is supported by the European Commission, the Dutch Ministry for Development and Cooperation, the Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and other funders. IWPR also acknowledges general support from the Ford Foundation. TRIBUNAL UPDATE: Editor-in-Chief: Anthony Borden; Managing Editor: Yigal Chazan; Senior Editor: John MacLeod; International Justice Senior Editor: Merdijana Sadovic; Translation: Predrag Brebanovic, and others; Project Director: Duncan Furey. 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