In a recent meeting with the chief prosecutor of the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Carla del Ponte, Ashdown accused Covic and his Croatian Democratic Union party (HDZ BiH) of being an obstacle to the establishment of a national court for war crimes. Ashdown said that sanctions were possible.
In the letter to Ashdown, which was distributed to the media in Mostar, the CAA voiced suspicion that Covic was being attacked for advocating the signing of an agreement on the non-extradition of U.S. citizens to the International Criminal Court, which the EU and the United Nations strongly object to.
The letter, signed by CAA president George Rudman and sent earlier this week, said the U.S. Congress would very likely organise a hearing to investigate if the suspicions were true.
The letter firmly supported Covic, saying his appointment to Bosnia's Presidency had dramatically improved relations between Bosnian Croats and the HDZ BiH and the U.S. authorities.
The Bosnian state prosecutor's office is investigating Covic in connection with 10 abuse of office cases for which prosecutor John MnNair has recently said Covic might be indicted.