Blaskic Says He Fought Balkan Terror Defendant Tells U.N. Tribunal Of ‘Heroic Efforts’ To Save Muslims

A Bosnian Croat general accused of leading the slaughter of hundreds of Muslims went to heroic lengths to prevent the deaths, his lawyer said Tuesday at the opening of his U.N. war crimes trial.

Gen. Tihomir Blaskic, the highest-ranking suspect to face justice before the U.N. tribunal, is charged with leading an ethnic purge of the Lasva Valley in central Bosnia in 1992 and 1993 that killed hundreds of Muslims and destroyed their homes and mosques.

Prosecutor Mark Harmon accused Blaskic of leading his troops in a rampage in which “whole Muslim villages were razed to the ground and their populations were driven from the territory he controlled.”

In a 20-count indictment, Blaskic is charged with responsibility for atrocities committed by his troops, including many carried out “within minutes of his headquarters,” according to Harmon.

But Blaskic’s U.S. attorney, Russell Hayman, argued his client was not behind atrocities committed by “extremist elements” out of his control and instead made “heroic efforts” to prevent them.

Blaskic, who turned himself in last year claiming he would prove his innocence, appeared confident and calm during Tuesday’s hearing. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Among the attacks Blaskic is accused of was the torching of the Muslim village of Ahmici in which 96 civilians - including women, children and elderly men - were killed.

Prosecutors have a list of 300 potential witnesses, and Harmon said he would also produce orders from Blaskic telling his troops to destroy Muslim villages.

But Hayman told reporters after the hearing that in thousands of pages of prosecution material “there is not one shred of evidence that Gen. Blaskic ever ordered attacks on civilians or the destruction of civilian property.”

The first witness, U.S. historian Robert Donia, began describing the historical roots of the Bosnian conflict Tuesday for the three-judge panel. Donia’s testimony is expected to last most of the week.

Blaskic was a colonel during the alleged atrocities, and was later promoted to general. The day after his indictment, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman promoted him again to a Zagreb-based military post.