"How much the archbishop's guarantees are worth is something which the Hague-based tribunal will decide. I am glad that the Croatian Government and Prime Minister Ivo Sanader have offered relevant support to the request of the general's defence team that their client be released from the detention centre pending trial," reads a statement made by the Roman Catholic dignitary in the Croatian coastal city following the information that he also provided the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) with guarantees for this case.
Prendja writes that following the proposal of the retired general's defence team, he provided his guarantees as the primate of the local Catholic community a member of which Gotovina is.
I have offered my human and moral guarantees, no matter whether they will have the legal force, that General Ante Gotovina will abide by the Hague tribunal's regulations about his movements and stay in case he is put under house arrest.
On this occasion the dignitary recalls that in January 1993, ahead of the Maslenica liberating operation, General Gotovina had asked him to hold a speech before Croatian officers and soldiers about the ethically acceptable behaviour in the war.
Lawyers for Gotovina on Wednesday said they had filed a request with the ICTY that their client be released pending trial and placed under house arrest in the village of Pakostane near Zadar.
House arrest surveillance would be carried out via an electronic bracelet, lawyer Luka Misetic said.
Croatian Television said the bracelet would always show Gotovina's location, while Vecernji List added that if he left the house the bracelet would alarm the Croatian Interior Ministry and the Hague tribunal.
The defence team is expecting the tribunal's answer in early September.