Bosnian Croat Pleads Not Guilty to ‘Ethnic Cleansing’
Bosnian Croat militia leader Gen. Tihomir Blaskic pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of killing or expelling thousands of Muslims.
“With respect to all the charges, I plead not guilty. I consider myself completely innocent,” Blaskic told the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
Blaskic was charged last year with crimes against humanity related to the “ethnic cleansing” of Muslims in the Lasva River valley area of central Bosnia between May 1992 and May 1993.
The tribunal’s 13-page indictment against Blaskic and five other Croats said the operation was so thorough that the area’s entire Muslim population was destroyed or expelled.
Blaskic was earlier ordered to be detained at a “residence designated by the Dutch authorities” rather than at the tribunal’s detention center near The Hague.
He had asked not to be placed in jail so he could meet his lawyers and see his family.
The tribunal said it made the decision because Blaskic gave himself up voluntarily.
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