ZAGREB, Feb 3 (Hina) - Speaking of a medical report on the condition of retired Croatian General Janko Bobetko, the spokesman for the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague said on Monday the court's competent judge had forwarded it to
the chief prosecutor.
ZAGREB, Feb 3 (Hina) - Speaking of a medical report on the condition
of retired Croatian General Janko Bobetko, the spokesman for the
U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague said on Monday the court's
competent judge had forwarded it to the chief prosecutor. #L#
Over the weekend several Croatian dailies quoted unnamed sources as
saying that a Dutch team of doctors who examined the 83-year-old
Bobetko last month concluded he was unfit to travel to The Hague and
recommended a temporary discontinuation of proceedings against
him.
Tribunal spokesman Jim Landale reiterated the medical report,
which is confidential and was first delivered to the court's
secretariat, was sent to the competent judge who then forwarded it
to the prosecutor's office for evaluation.
Asked how recommendations from a confidential document could have
been published in the media, Landale said he could not comment on
that.
Florence Hartmann, spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, also
said she could not speak about the report at this moment.
Under the Hague tribunal's rules, the decision to temporarily or
permanently discontinue proceedings may be made only by judges
after the indictment is verified by one of them. The rules allow the
chief prosecutor to suggest discontinuing proceedings.
Bobetko was examined by two doctors from Amsterdam last month. They
reviewed his medical files and talked with the Croatian doctors who
are monitoring him. Their task was to check the Croatian team's
conclusion that Bobetko was unfit to travel to the Netherlands.
Bobetko is charged with war crimes committed during the Medak
Pocket operation in September 1993. He was hospitalised last
November.
(hina) ha