BRUSSELS, Feb 11 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Carla del Ponte, said in Brussels on Wednesday she believed that General Ante Gotovina was in Croatia and confirmed that the
prosecution had submitted to the tribunal an amended indictment against Gotovina.
BRUSSELS, Feb 11 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes
tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Carla del Ponte, said in Brussels
on Wednesday she believed that General Ante Gotovina was in Croatia
and confirmed that the prosecution had submitted to the tribunal an
amended indictment against Gotovina.#L#
Del Ponte said she had no new information on Gotovina but that she
still believed that he was in Croatia. She made the statement after
meeting the European Union's High Representative for the Common
Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said that ICTY fugitives were the safest in
their own countries.
Asked about reports that the prosecution had submitted an amended
indictment against Gotovina, del Ponte said she could confirm having
submitted an amended indictment and that she was waiting for it to be
confirmed by an authorised judge.
The ICTY prosecution is mostly preoccupied with cooperation with
Serbia and the fact that Belgrade has become a safe haven for war
criminals, including Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, she said.
There are around 15 indicted fugitives in Serbia and according to
information from a reliable source, even Radovan Karadzic is in
Belgrade. "Belgrade is now a safe haven for our fugitives... Karadzic
is now residing in Belgrade," del Ponte said, adding that following
operations of the Stabilisation Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Karadzic
hid in Serbia.
"So we have now both our most high level (people) responsible for the
crimes committed, Mladic and Karadzic," in Serbia, she said calling on
the international community to exert pressure on Serbia.
She described her meeting with Solana as important with regard to the
exchange of information about the tribunal's expectations from
countries in the region.
She said that she conveyed to Solana information regarding Croatia.
Solana will visit Croatia next week. According to EU sources, del
Ponte informed Solana that she had established contact with the new
Croatian authorities and expected them to start acting. Del Ponte is
also to meet European Commission and NATO officials today.
(Hina) rml sb