ZAGREB, March 5 (Hina) - The Croatian government and the Office of the Prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal on Friday declined to comment on Croatian media reports that the tribunal had sent to Zagreb an amended indictment against
General Ante Gotovina and that it had also indicted generals Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac.
ZAGREB, March 5 (Hina) - The Croatian government and the Office of the
Prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal on Friday declined to comment
on Croatian media reports that the tribunal had sent to Zagreb an
amended indictment against General Ante Gotovina and that it had also
indicted generals Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac.#L#
"I don't comment on speculation," Prime Minister Ivo Sanader told
reporters covering his official visit to Romania.
"No comment," said Florence Hartmann, spokeswoman for the tribunal's
prosecution, in a phone interview with Hina. Hartmann could not say
when the prosecutor's office would go public with official information
on the reports.
Previous practice shows that the Hague tribunal often issues sealed
indictments which are not made public so as to facilitate the arrest
and hand-over of the accused.
Officials at the Justice Ministry, which is competent to act on
requests by the tribunal, have said the ministry will issue a
statement as soon as it obtains official information.
A reliable source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, has told Hina
that the indictments have arrived.
"I can confirm the receipt of an amended indictment against Gotovina
and a fresh indictment against Cermak and Markac," the same source
said. The source said Croatia was expected to "carry out the requests
of the Hague tribunal quickly", but would not elaborate on the
statement.
Reports of the indictments were run by most Croatian media, with some
reporting about an indictment against Cermak and Markac and some about
an amended indictment against Gotovina which also includes the two
generals.
Cermak's attorney Cedo Prodanovic told Hina he had no official
information on an indictment against his client. The media carried the
same statement by Markac's attorney Miroslav Separovic.
Both generals had previously stated that they would go to The Hague
voluntarily should they be indicted.
During the 1995 Operation Storm, Cermak was the civil administrator of
Knin while Markac was a commander of special police forces.
Under the Constitutional Law on Cooperation with the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the Justice Ministry
forwards indictments and arrest warrants to the county court in the
county where the indictee is resident. If it is confirmed that Cermak
and Markac are indicted, the Zagreb County Court will be competent for
the case.
Zagreb County Court president Bozidar Rumenjak told Hina today that he
had not received any information from the ministry yet.
"If the media speculation proves true, the court expects the ministry
to send the indictment, after which the case will be assigned to an
investigating judge," Rumenjak said.
(Hina) rml sb