Following an unconfirmed report on the alleged arrest of the fugitive general in southern Italy which the Slovene POP TV commercial television network aired on Friday evening, the Croatian government asked Italian authorities to check the information. On Saturday, the Italian Foreign Ministry officially notified Ambassador Kraljevic that none of persons who had been apprehended in Italy in recent days, was General Gotovina.
On Friday evening sources in the Italian police and carabiniers said that Gotovina was not arrested. The Croatian Ambassador in Rome also said last night that he had no knowledge about Gotovina's arrest.
The Slovene POP TV said on Friday evening that fugitive Croatian Army General Ante Gotovina, who is wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague on war crimes charges, had been arrested in Italy. General Gotovina was arrested by Italian special police forces near the southern town of Castello di Cisterna on May 24, POP TV said in its prime-time news programme, citing an anonymous source. The television station said that the news had not been officially confirmed by Italian authorities or "local sources" in Italy.