ZAGREB, Feb 26 (Hina) - The office of the prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague has requested an interview with retired Croatian army general Ivan Tolj as a witness, sources at the Justice Ministry said on
Thursday.
ZAGREB, Feb 26 (Hina) - The office of the prosecutor of the UN war
crimes tribunal in The Hague has requested an interview with retired
Croatian army general Ivan Tolj as a witness, sources at the Justice
Ministry said on Thursday.#L#
Tolj confirmed the report in an interview with Hina.
"I was told today at the Department for Cooperation with International
Criminal Courts that tribunal prosecutors wanted to interview me as a
witness," Tolj said.
Tolj said he believed that the interview would focus on the Croatian
police and army operation "Storm".
At the time of the operation, in the summer of 1995, Tolj was head of
the Defence Ministry's Political Department, and held news conferences
at which he spoke in his capacity as a spokesman and commander of the
Information Centre.
Asked if he would comply with the request, Tolj said he did not "have
much choice, as I am bound to cooperate under the Constitutional Law
on Cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia".
"I respect the laws of the state which I fought for and I do not want
to cause any harm to Croatia," he said.
He added that he would use the interview to promote Operation "Storm"
as a "brilliant and quick liberation operation, with no controversial
moments".
A major-general in February 2000, Tolj was relieved of his duties as
Assistant Defence Minister in charge of public relations and
information, after which he was retired.
(Hina) rml sb