[banirani bebac]

By a decision dated 8 April 1992, leaders and members of the joint criminal enterprise, including Mate Boban, established the Croatian Defence Council (the "HVO"), as Herceg-Bosna's "supreme defence body," "to defend the sovereignty of the territories of the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna." On 15 May 1992, the HVO was likewise declared Herceg-Bosna's "supreme executive and administrative body," combining political, governmental and military powers. While the self-proclaimed political entity and its territory were referred to as "Herceg-Bosna," the government and armed forces of Herceg-Bosna were called the "Croatian Defence Council" or "HVO." The governmental and political leadership and administrative authorities of Herceg-Bosna and the HVO (the "Herceg-Bosna/HVO leadership" or "Herceg-Bosna/HVO authorities") were in charge of, and worked closely with the Herceg-Bosna/HVO armed forces, special units, military and civilian police, security and intelligence services, paramilitaries, local defence forces and other persons acting under the supervision of or in co-ordination or association with such armed forces, police and other elements ("Herceg-Bosna/HVO forces"). While not every member of the HVO or the HDZ-BiH was part of the joint criminal enterprise, Herceg-Bosna, the HVO and the HDZ-BiH were essential structures and instruments of the joint criminal enterprise.


Following Herceg-Bosna's establishment in November 1991, and especially from May 1992 forward, the Herceg-Bosna/HVO leadership (including the accused and other leaders and members of the joint criminal enterprise) engaged in continuing and co-ordinated efforts to dominate and "Croatise" the municipalities which they claimed were part of Herceg-Bosna, with increasing persecution and discrimination directed against the Bosnian Muslim population. The HVO took control of many municipal governments and services, removing or marginalising local Bosnian Muslim leaders. Herceg-Bosna/HVO authorities and forces took control of the media and imposed Croatian ideas and propaganda. Croatian symbols and currency were introduced, and Croatian curricula and the "Croatian language" were introduced in schools. Many Bosnian Muslims were removed from positions in government and private business; humanitarian aid was managed and distributed to the Muslims' disadvantage; and Muslims in general were increasingly harassed.


In the spring and early summer of 1992, the Herceg-Bosna/HVO authorities and forces, while asserting their control and engaging in the actions described above, carried out military operations with armed forces of the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina in response to JNA and Bosnian Serb military actions in Herzegovina and elsewhere. In connection with or following the Serb forces leaving Mostar, the Herceg-Bosna/HVO-led forces destroyed the city's Serbian Orthodox Church and nearby Serb houses. Many Serbs left Mostar during this time, while others were held in poor conditions in HVO-run detention camps.


Despite some co-operation in the spring and summer of 1992, tensions between the Herceg-Bosna/HVO structures and Bosnian Muslims continued and increased over time. Significant violence broke out between the Herceg-Bosna/HVO forces and Bosnian Muslims on 19 October 1992 in Novi Travnik, the site of an important munitions factory, and in the course of several days thereafter, Herceg-Bosna/HVO forces cleansed most of the Muslims from the town of Prozor and several surrounding villages.


In January 1993, United Nations and European Community peace negotiators met in Geneva with Croat, Serb and Muslim representatives and discussed a proposed peace agreement, known as the Vance-Owen Peace Plan, which would maintain a single, unified Bosnia and Herzegovina with a central government and ten numbered provinces. While neither the Serbs nor Muslims had agreed to the Vance-Owen proposals by mid-January 1993, Franjo Tudjman, Gojko Susak and the Herceg-Bosna/HVO leadership (including the accused) found the plan, as they envisioned and interpreted it, much to their favour -- essentially giving them the Croatian Banovina and even additional territory, covered by the proposed Vance-Owen provinces 3, 8 and 10, despite the fact that many of the areas included in these provinces had majority or at least equal Muslim populations and were controlled or occupied by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina.


At a meeting in Zagreb on 15 January 1993, Franjo Tudjman, Gojko Susak and Mate Boban failed to convince Bosnia and Herzegovina's President, Alija Izetbegovic, to accept their views and immediately set out to implement their plans without the agreement of the BiH Government or the international peace negotiators. On the same day, the HVO President, JADRANKO PRLIC, signed a Decision that "SaCll units of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina which at this moment are stationed in provinces 3, 8 and 10, which have been declared Croatian provinces in the Geneva accords, shall be subordinated to the Command of the Main Staff of the HVO Armed Forces. . . . The deadline for implementing this Decision is hereby set at five (5) days, starting from today, 15 January 1993."


Despite the fact that neither the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina nor the international peace negotiators had agreed to the unilateral implementation of their views of the Vance-Owen proposals, Herceg-Bosna/HVO authorities and forces, with the passage of the 15 January 1993 deadline and around that time, took military and violent actions to enforce the ultimatum, attacking and pressing the Muslims at a number of locations, including at Novi Travnik, Gornji Vakuf and Busovaca. Following international protests, a cease-fire was put in place after some days.


While tensions remained high and there were local skirmishes, major conflict was avoided until the end of March 1993, when President Izetbegovic, following further negotiations, provisionally accepted the Vance-Owen plan (which the Serbs never accepted), with certain military aspects of the plan still to be resolved. As in January 1993, knowing that the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina had not agreed on the remaining issues and that the Bosnian Serbs had not accepted the plan, the Herceg-Bosna/HVO leadership (including the accused) once again set a deadline, stating that all units of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina in provinces 3, 8 and 10, by 15 April 1993, either subordinate themselves to the HVO or leave the areas covered by the proposed provinces.


When the 15 April deadline passed without the BiH Government acceding to their position, Herceg-Bosna/HVO forces set about a broad campaign of persecutions, military actions, arrests and expulsions to enforce their demands, with more than thirty attacks on Muslim towns and villages on 16-18 April 1993, including the attacks and atrocities in Ahmici on 16 April, in Sovici and Doljani on 17 April, and in Parcani, Lizoperci and Toscanica on 17-19 April.