"The Justice Ministry believes that whether (Gotovina's) indictment is founded or not founded can be proved only and exclusively in court procedure before a competent court which has issued the indictment," Croatian Assistant Justice Minister Jaksa Muljacic told Hina on Wednesday.
"Our position is clear. The Hague-based tribunal is competent. There are rules about the transfer (of cases) but this is something on which the tribunal decides at the proposal of the chief prosecutor," Muljacic said. In this concrete case this is out of question when he is a fugitive," Muljacic said commenting on the letter of Gotovina's lawyer, Luka Misetic, sent to the EU Council of Ministers.
According to this letter, which was yesterday cited by a Croatian daily, fugitive Croatian General Ante Gotovina is willing to answer to accusations of war crimes in court at once if the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague refers his case to the Croatian judiciary and he is tried in Croatia. The paper published the copy of the letter Misetic forwarded to the Council of the European Union chair, Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, earlier this year. In the letter, Misetic says his client is willing to appear in court if he is tried in Croatia. Misetic asks Asselborn to share the letter with the other EU foreign ministers, and informs him that Gotovina is willing to accept a compromise solution to his case.
Asked whether this letter would make Croatia's position more difficult regarding its cooperation with the ICTY, Muljacic answered in the negative.
"This will not affect Croatia's position as this is an autonomous decision made by lawyers and the Croatian government has nothing with it," he said.
Croatian Parliament Speaker Vladimir Seks declined to comment on the letter, but said that it was odd that it appeared now, adding that such things always cropped up ahead of important decisions for Croatia-ICTY relations.
The spokeswoman for the ICTY Prosecution, Florence Hartmann, said that "this is an attempt to politicise a legal issue", adding that" the principle is question, because a legal institution never negotiates with fugitives".
Hartmann went on saying that one cannot ask from a political body such as the EU Council of Ministers to be exempt from law.
"When he (Gotovina) appears before the ICTY, he and his lawyers will be able to use all laws and legal instruments. As long as he is a fugitive, he is denying himself all rights," she added.
Asked whether it could be expected from the ICTY to show its willingness to reach compromise after Gotovina expressed readiness to accept a compromise in the settlement of his case, Hartmann answered that "compromise is not an appropriate word, as no compromises are made with law".
Asked whether the letter could make Croatia's position before the ICTY more complicated, she answered that this could not be automatically connected.
Lawyer Cedo Prodanovic, who is legal counsel for another two ICTY indictees, Rahim Ademi and Ivan Cermak, said today that this was "an attempt to achieve a political solution on a court file" describing it as an inappropriate move which stood no chance.
Prodanovic said this meant only losing one's time and Gotovina was only further complicating his situation.
The Zagreb lawyer does not believe that there are any chances of referring the Gotovina case to Croatian courts with regard to the principle that the Hague-based ICTY would process high-profile indictees while low-profile indictees would be tried before local courts.
General Gotovina has been at large since June 2001 when the ICTY unsealed his indictment.