"This means putting on trial all those individuals who organised the escape of Hague tribunal indictees and fund-raisers for their defence by circumventing institutions of the system, although they were officially members of the system," Mesic told reporters during his visit to Karlovac, about 50 kilometres southwest of Zagreb.
"If it is established who made it possible for Ivica Rajic to change his identity three times, to get money to buy an apartment and business premises and obtain fictitious employment, and if it is established who was involved in protecting 'the Ahmic Group', then our cooperation with the Hague tribunal can be considered credible only if we put them on trial," the president added.
Mesic pointed out that all relevant Interior Ministry services had assured him that fugitive general Ante Gotovina, who is wanted by the Hague tribunal on war crimes charges, was not hiding in Croatia.
Mesic declined comment when asked by a reporter how the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as new pope would affect Croatia's progress towards the European union. He said he expected that the new pope, Benedict XVI, would continue in the footsteps of the previous pope, John Paul II.