WASHINGTON, March 5 (Hina) - The Croatian American Association (CAA)has sent a letter to the chairman of the Council of the EuropeanUnion, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean Asselborn in connections withindications that the EU could
postpone negotiations with Croatiascheduled for 17 March if Croatia fails to entirely cooperate with theUN war crimes tribunal in The Hague (ICTY).
WASHINGTON, March 5 (Hina) - The Croatian American Association (CAA)
has sent a letter to the chairman of the Council of the European Union,
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean Asselborn in connections with indications that
the EU could postpone negotiations with Croatia scheduled for 17 March if
Croatia fails to entirely cooperate with the UN war crimes tribunal in The
Hague (ICTY).In the letter, CAA president George Rudman said that only ICTY judges
could decide whether or not Croatia was meeting its obligations towards the
tribunal and not ICTY chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte, the EU or its member
countries.
In support to his statement, Rudman cited the ICTY verdict in a case
from 1997, the Prosecutor vs. Tihomir Blaskic, saying that the appeals council
said that ICTY judges should decide on whether or not a UN member states
violated its obligations towards the tribunal, and not the Security Council,
prosecutors or UN member countries.