THE HAGUE, Feb 28 (Hina) - The Hague-based UN tribunal's prosecution on Friday refuted allegations in some Croatian media to the effect that Croatia will be served with a subpoena for failing to deliver some defence ministry
documents.
THE HAGUE, Feb 28 (Hina) - The Hague-based UN tribunal's
prosecution on Friday refuted allegations in some Croatian media to
the effect that Croatia will be served with a subpoena for failing
to deliver some defence ministry documents. #L#
A state cannot be served with a subpoena, Jean-Jacques Joris,
diplomatic advisor to chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, told Hina,
adding he had no idea where such information came from.
The subpoena is a binding order from the Anglo-American legal
tradition, the use of which is envisaged by the rule book of the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Joris volunteered the subpoena might have been mistaken for a
possible report to the U.N. Security Council for non-cooperation.
He confirmed the ICTY prosecution was dissatisfied with the refusal
to submit wanted documents and the lack of initiative on the
Croatian authorities' part in connection with the Gotovina case,
about which Croatian media also reported.
For a very long time, the prosecution has had trouble with getting
documents from the Croatian defence ministry relating to some
investigations, particularly regarding events in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, said Joris, stating this clearly constituted non-
compliance with ICTY requests.
As regards the fugitive general Ante Gotovina, he said Croatian
authorities could have arrested him on several occasions had they
wanted to.
Joris said it was surprising that authorities in Croatia knew where
Gotovina was when he was out of the country. When he is in
Herzegovina they have heaps of information, dates and other
details, but nothing when he is in Croatia, he said.
The ICTY prosecution has plenty of reliable and credible
information from various sources to the effect that Gotovina is
frequently in Croatia, including Zagreb, said Joris.
Asked about information the tribunal had passed on to Croatia's
authorities, he said Zagreb had all the relevant information and
could arrest him if they wanted to.
They know what needs to be done and must do it, he said, comparing
the situation to Belgrade's conduct regarding Ratko Mladic.
Asked when Croatia was expected to meet the demands, Joris said the
sooner the better. These are not actions requiring a lot of time,
just the political green light, he said.
Joris also pointed to two phenomena obstructing ICTY work in
Croatia.
Whenever the tribunal approaches a delicate area, information is
leaked, he said, stressing this was obviously not from the ICTY
side. The leak leads to mounting political pressure which provides
authorities with an alibi to not cooperate and tell the ICTY the
demand cannot be met or the government will fall, he said.
The other phenomenon, which Joris described as extremely
unpleasant, is that the media in Croatia, like those in Serbia,
target the ICTY prosecution spokeswoman as the source of pressure
on governments.
Florence Hartmann is only a spokesperson who presents decisions
that have been made, strategies that have been defined, she is
instructed what to say, said Joris. To ascribe the court's
decisions and requests to her is to fool the public by creating the
impression that one person is against the country, when it is an
institution.
(hina) ha