We have sent the authorities in Zagreb our copy of the transcript to compare both versions and they found out that they match, that they are the same. We have never doubted its authenticity, and that is the ultimate proof that the transcript is authentic, Jean-Daniel Ruch, political adviser to Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte, told Hina by telephone from The Hague.
The Office of the Prosecutor sent a copy of the transcript to Zagreb a few weeks ago following charges filed by lawyers for fugitive General Ante Gotovina with the Zagreb Municipal Prosecutor's Office that the transcript was fake.
The Zagreb Municipal Prosecutor's Office rejected the charges on 29 April, concluding that the transcript was authentic. Gotovina's lawyers contest the ruling, saying that it is a forgery directed at discrediting their client.
Asked if the prosecutors would cite before the tribunal the document whose authenticity was confirmed in Zagreb, Ruch said they certainly would, adding that the transcript had already been used in various cases, including the trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
We have never doubted the authenticity of the transcript. It is Gotovina's lawyers who are raising doubts about it and who are trying to build a story on it, the ICTY spokesman said.
We now have the decision of the Zagreb Municipal Prosecutor's Office of 29 April. That decision is very clear and that is what we trust, he added.
Ruch said that the decision would make it difficult for the defence lawyers of General Gotovina and for those of General Ivan Cermak and General Mladen Markac to prove before the ICTY that the transcript is a forgery.
Goran Mikulicic, one of the lawyers representing General Markac, concurred with Ruch's opinion.
"The authenticity of the transcript confirmed by the domestic court shows that the work of the defence teams in The Hague, who will continue to claim that the transcript is a forgery, will be considerably more difficult, if not impossible," Mikulicic told Hina by telephone.
Noting that judging by all accounts the document was authentic, Mikulicic said that the defence lawyers would have to look for mistakes in the transcript, such as misinterpretation or erroneous attribution, in order to discredit it.
"Such mistakes reduce the credibility of the transcript and make it possible for the document to be attacked as a whole," Mikulicic said.
Lawyer Cedo Prodanovic, who defends General Cermak, said in a brief comment that the decision of the Zagreb Municipal Prosecutor's Office would make the work of the ICTY prosecutors easier.