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Bosnian Croat general plesds not guilly to

THE HAGUE: Bosnian Croat militia leader General Tihomir Blaskic pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to war crimes charges laid by the U.N. tribunal for former Yugoslavia.

"With respect to all the charges, I plead not guilty. I consider myself completely innocent," Blaskic told the Hague-based tribunal.

Blaskic was charged last year with crimes against humanity related to the "ethnic cleansing" of Moslems in the Lasva Valley area of central Bosnia between May 1992 and May 1993.

The tribunal's 13-page indictment against Blaskic and five other Croats said that the operation, which included systematic attacks on Zenica, Vitez and Ahmici, was so thorough that the area's entire Moslem population had been destroyed or expelled.

Blaskic, 35 and smartly dressed in a blue suit and tie, was earlier ordered to be detained at a "residence designated by the Dutch authorities" rather than at the tribunal's detention centre at Scheveningen jail near The Hague.

He had asked to be placed under house arrest rather than be held in jail, so he could meet his lawyers and see his family.

Tribunal president Antonio Cassese rejected house arrest but granted permission for Blaskic to be moved from the jail where he has been held since surrendering to the tribunal on Monday.

But he laid down strict detention conditions.

Blaskic will not be allowed to leave his residence or the Netherlands; all meetings and visits will take place at the tribunal's detention unit; Blaskic will have to pay for his housing and security; he will not be allowed any contact with the press and may not make or receive telephone calls.

The tribunal said it took the decision after Blaskic had given himself up voluntarily.

It is widely accepted that Blaskic surrendered under strong pressure from the Croatian government, which itself has been pushed by the United States into better compliance with the Dayton peace agreement.

"It would be injudicious and contrary to widely accepted principles of criminal law not to take account of Blaskic's procedural behaviour," Cassese said in a statement.

Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, who angered the West when he promoted Blaskic in the Croatian army just days after his indictment last autumn, has said Zagreb will cooperate with the tribunal in the case of other indicted Bosnian Croats.

Bosnian Moslems and Croats were nominal allies in the war against separatist Bosnian Serb forces which began in April 1992, and government troops fought alongside units of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO).

But a year after the war began the HVO and its political wing, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), turned on the Moslem-led government and began to fight for "pure" Croat territory which could be joined with neighbouring Croatia.

The tribunal, set up by the U.N. Security Council in May 1993, has charged 57 men -- 46 Serbs, eight Croats and three Moslems -- but has just three, including Blaskic, in its custody.-Reuter