Tihomir Blaškić

Tihomir Blaškić (December 2nd 1960, village of Brestovsko, municipality of Kiseljak, Republic of Bosnia-Herzégovine) is a Croatian former general of Bosnia-Herzégovine and a war criminal. He was the commander of the Croatian forces in central Bosnia-Herzégovine of 1992 with 1994, in particular at the time of the conflict between the Croatian S and Musulman S of Bosnia-Herzégovine. In 1994 he became general and in 1995 inspector with the General inspection of the Army of the Republic of Croatia ( Hrvatska Vojska ab.HV). Tihomir Blaškić voluntarily went on April 1st 1996 and was transferred the same day to the International penal court for ex-Yugoslavia. After condemnhaving condemned it in 2000 in first authority to 45 years of imprisonment for war crimes at the time of the War in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995, the room of call of TPIY strongly reduces its sorrow to 9 years of prison and in 2004 discharged it principal facts of which it was marked. Today TPIY carries out a penal procedure in order to prove the culpability of Tihomir Blaškić on facts of which he was discharged.

Biography

Beginnings of its military career

Tihomir Blaškić , was born on December 2nd 1960 in the village from Brestovsko, municipality of Kiseljak in the République of Bosnia-Herzégovine. It is resulting from a poor family where the boys are traditionally intended for the life of monk Franciscain or with a military career. Blaškić chooses to be registered at the military academy of Zagreb, establishment whose vocation was to train the future officers of the Armée popular Yugoslavian (JNA). Very quickly it was pointed out and accepted a prestigious station within the presidential guard of Josip Broz Tito. According to its own testimony, he would have cried at the time of the burial of Tito. He left the Military academy of Belgrade in 1983 after having been before captain in the Yugoslav popular Army.

In 1991, like the majority of the Croatian , it left JNA with the rank of commander to join the armed force of the Croats of Bosnia-Herzégovine, HVO ( Hrvatsko vijeće obrane : The the Croatian Council of defense).

The War in Bosnia: 1992 - 1995

As of the international recognition of the Bosnia-Herzégovine on April 6th 1992, armed confrontations burst between the various communities. The Croatian of Bosnia-Herzégovine created HVO then on April 8th 1992 supported by the Croatian army (HV). The zones which they control are included in the Croatian Communauté of Bosnia-Herzégovine (HZBH). At the beginning of the conflict, Tihomir Blaškić had the rank of colonel in HVO (Croatian Conseil of defense. As of on June 27th 1992, it was promoted Ordering Regional Quartier of the Armed forces in central Bosnia. Tihomir Blaškić ordered the troops of HVO in the Valley of the Lašva in central Bosnia-Herzégovine, populated mainly Moslems and Croats. Between May 1992 and January 1993, the tensions between the two communities were exacerbated. One attended the first destruction of mosques and Moslem houses, with the first murders of civilians and the first plunderings. January 2nd 1993 was presented the Plan Vance-Owen. This peace plan envisaged, inter alia, decentralized Bosnia-Herzégovine made up of ten provinces autonomous and managed by a democratically elected local government. The valley of the Lašva was located mainly in a province where, according to the plan, the principal responsibilities were allotted to the Croatian . When the Croatian and the Bosno-Croatian decided to anticipate the implementation of the Plan Vance-Owen, and to carry out it unilaterally, an open conflict burst between the Croatian S and the Musulman S of central Bosnia-Herzégovine.

After two launched ultimata in January and April 1993 with the Moslem S and intended to oblige them to return their weapons, the Croatian forces, under the direct command of Tihomir Blaškić, tackled various municipalities of the valley. The Croatian forces, HVO and independent units attacked with the goods of the civil populations and their person. They plundered and burned the houses and of the cattle sheds, abattèrent their cattle, destroyed or damaged the mosques. Moreover, they massacred civilians without reference to age nor of sex. Some were stopped and off-set in detention centres, in the deplorable living conditions and where one forced them to trench. These same civilians were also used as human hostages or shields.

End of the military career and its imprisonment

In August 1994, Tihomir Blaškić was high with the row of general and named ordering HVO whose general headquarter was located at Mostar. In 1996, it was shown by TPIY of crimes against humanity (in particular crimes committed by the Croatian troops , whereas they were under its command, against Bosnian S of central Bosnia-Herzégovine, in particular in the valley of Lašva), grave offenses with the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and violations of the laws or habits of the war. Franjo Tuđman, which had named Blaškić in November 1995 inspector with the General inspection of the Army of the Republic of Croatia (HV), protested vigorously and in an arrogant way against these bills of indictment. In 1996 military superiors of Blaškić him fire to understand that its duty was to go to TPIY in order to be judged. With back-plate, it was carried out. Its judgment began in 1997 and he was condemned to 45 years of prison in March 2000.

The lawsuit Tihomir Blaškić: a business with bounce

July 2004, an important reverse for TPIY

After the judgment in first authority, the lawyers of Tihomir Blaškić appealed. They presented new documents of the intelligence services of Croatia discovered to spring 2000, after the death of the former Croatian president Franjo Tudjman. These documents showed, according to them, the innocence of the general. They had been hidden by the mode of Franjo Tudjman in order to dissimulate any bond between the leader circles of the capacity of the time and the crimes perpetrated in central Bosnia-Herzégovine.

Following these new elements, in July 2004, Court of recognized Appeal that there existed well a “double chain of command” and decided to reduce to 9 years the custodial sentence of the general bosno-Croatian Tihomir Blaškić. He was thus discharged from sixteen of the nineteen loads retained against him for attacks and inhuman treatments against Musulman S of Bosnia-Herzégovine. The room of call estimated that it could not be recognized guilty for the attacks of the towns of Vitez and Busovaca. It also stressed that it had not ordered the massacre of Ahmici which had cost the life more than 100 Bosnian Moslem civilians carried out by the Croatian forces on April 16th 1993. However, the room of call of the Court maintained the judgments under the crimes related to the detention of the prisoners, in particular the use of people protected for construction from defensive military installations and the use of prisoners as human shields. In their decision, the judges of call recalled that the Blaskic business had lasted also a long time partly because of the " miss coopération" nationalist mode of the late president Franjo Tudjman. A few hours after the judgment, the president of the court Theodor Meron ordered that one releases Blaškić, following the request for this last. Imprisoned during more than eight years and four months in $the Hague, the general profited from an early release grace, with his good behavior, his fragile health and the fact that it had infants. He regained Kiseljak in Bosnia-Herzégovine. In Zagreb, the Croatian ministry of Justice " salua" in an official statement the decision of TPIY, evoking “a historical contribution which will help to establish the truth on the conflicts of central Bosnia” . The Croatian president, Stipe Mesic, stated that “this decision proved that the TPI was not an political institution” . In the same way, it guarantees to Blaškić like with another Croatian general , an early withdrawal. According to testimonys brought back by the AFP, with the statement of the judgment; the Blaškić general remained impassive. On the other hand, in the room reserved for the public, several people expressed their joy while applauding. Ratka, the woman of Tihomir Blaškić, very of white vêtue and accompanied by his/her children, following the verdict did not hide also its joy. She declared in AFP: “I am so content. It was not possible that he was condemned to 45 years. It soon will return to the house” .

With Sarajevo, the Musulman S of Bosnia-Herzégovine close relations of the victims of the massacre of Ahmici were very disappointed by the sentence in call and remain still at present convinced of the responsibility for the general.

This decision does not raise the veil on many aspects: One still did not indicate in a precise way the causes of the Croato-Musulmanse war in Bosnia-Herzégovine between 1993 and 1994. Nevertheless, this decision of the Court of Appeal inflicted with the parquet floor TPIY an important reverse, putting it in an uncomfortable situation vis-a-vis the charges carried against other Bosno-Croatian, in particular Dario Kordić and Mario Cerkez. The two men dispute their inculpation and their judgment for their role in ethnic violences in the center of Bosnia-Herzégovine. The prosecutors could have more evil to imply high ranking officials for crimes committed by subordinates. This verdict seemed to put an end to one the longest businesses and most complex of TPIY,

August 2005: a new procedure launched by Carla Del Ponte

In August 2005, of new evidence with load concerning the culpability of Tihomir Blaškić were brought. The prosecutor of the TPIY, Carla Del Ponte, decided to initiate a new procedure against Tihomir Blaškić.

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