"We consider the claims from "Danas" weekly prejudiced and arbitrary, and state that the recent meeting between representatives of the HDZ and the HDZ BiH did not focus on Ante Gotovina or the Hague tribunal. The topic of that meeting was the general political situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina," reads the statement.
"The HDZ and the HDZ BiH are sister parties and the meeting tackled political activities that would guarantee the survival of the Croat people in Bosnia-Herzegovina by protecting it as one of the country's three constituent, sovereign and equal peoples. We consider all other information from the article fabrications and imputations," says the statement.
Quoting an anonymous official of the HDZ BiH, the Mostar weekly on Thursday reported that at his informal meeting with representatives of the HDZ BiH visiting Zagreb, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said he suspected that the runaway Croatian general Ante Gotovina could be hiding in Herzegovina.
The weekly reported that Sanader inquired about Gotovina's movement and locations in Bosnia-Herzegovina where he could be hiding.
"We were surprised when he said something like 'If you know something, you should cooperate so that he is found'", the unnamed party member was quoted by the paper as saying.
"Only a few days after the meeting, the chief prosecutor of the Hague tribunal, Carla del Ponte, said before the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna that she was in possession of information that General Gotovina is hiding somewhere between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, again without specifying his possible location," the paper said.