THE HAGUE, April 5 (Hina) - The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Carla del Ponte, hailed the steps Croatia had taken in transferring ICTY indictees to The Hague, the spokeswoman
for the Prosecutor's Office said on Monday after six Bosnian Croat indictees voluntarily surrendered to the tribunal.
THE HAGUE, April 5 (Hina) - The Chief Prosecutor of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Carla del Ponte,
hailed the steps Croatia had taken in transferring ICTY indictees to
The Hague, the spokeswoman for the Prosecutor's Office said on Monday
after six Bosnian Croat indictees voluntarily surrendered to the
tribunal.#L#
"The prosecutor is grateful for the steps the Croatian government has
taken regarding the transfer of the indictees to The Hague,"
spokeswoman Florance Hartmann said.
At the same time, the prosecutor expects of Croatia to locate General
Ante Agotovina, who has been at large since the indictment against him
was issued in June 2001, Hartmann said.
Six Bosnian Croat wartime leaders charged with war crimes arrived at
the detention centre of the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague on
Monday.
Jadranko Prlic, former prime minister of the defunct self-styled
Croatian Republic of Herceg Bosna (HR HB); Slobodan Praljak and
Milivoj Petkovic, former commanders of the Croatian Defence Council
(HVO); Bruno Stojic, former HR HB defence minister; Valentin Coric,
former HVO Military Police commander; and Berislav Pusic, former head
of the HR HB Office for Detainees and Missing Persons; are charged on
the basis of individual and command responsibility with crimes against
humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and violations of
the law and customs of war committed through the expulsion of
thousands of Muslims, destruction, killings, rape and deportation of
the Muslim population from the areas of Prozor, Gornji Vakuf,
Jablanica, Mostar, Ljubuski, Stolac, Capljina and Vares, as well as
with crimes committed against prisoners in a number of detention
centres, including Heliodrom, Dretelj and Gabela.
When it comes to the case against Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac, in
which a decision of the Trial Chamber is expected regarding their
request for provisional release pending trial, spokeswoman Hartman
said the prosecutor had not changed her position stated at the status
conference last Thursday, when del Ponte objected that Cermak and
Markac be released until the prosecution interviews the two one more
time.
"The Prosecutor will view the matter differently once our people
interview the two in detention," Hartmann said and added that the
interview would carry more weight than those conducted before the
indictment was issued because the interview would be conducted based
on evidence which cannot be revealed to the indictees.
The spokeswoman stressed, however, that the Trial Chamber could decide
on their release pending trial despite the opposition from the
Prosecutor's Office, which already happened in the past.
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