ZAGREB, March 3 (Hina) - Asked by journalists to comment on claims that Croatia was exposed to pressure due to insufficient cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal, Prime Minister Ivica Racan said "for various reasons there are
attempts to fabricate a conflict between Croatia and The Hague".
ZAGREB, March 3 (Hina) - Asked by journalists to comment on claims
that Croatia was exposed to pressure due to insufficient
cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal, Prime Minister
Ivica Racan said "for various reasons there are attempts to
fabricate a conflict between Croatia and The Hague". #L#
The media have reported that chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte has
launched a diplomatic campaign to push Croatia, among other things,
because the government has failed to deliver requested documents
and to extradite the fugitive general Ante Gotovina.
"I didn't see it that way nor do I see it that way today. There will be
more talk about the documentation in the coming days, and the
government will approach the issue analytically," Racan said in the
break of a session of his Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Asked if it was correct that a financial reward had been offered for
information as to Gotovina's whereabouts, Racan said it was a
hypothetical question he did not intend to answer, nor would he
comment on incomplete information.
Asked about the request of Gotovina's lawyers for documentation
which would help them prepare his defence, Racan said he was not
familiar with it.
Asked whether delegations of the SDP and the Croatian Peasant Party
would meet again tomorrow, the premier said the exaggeration of
such meetings was unnecessary.
As long as there is a coalition, there should be cooperation and
talks, he said.
As for President Stjepan Mesic's statement that he was dissatisfied
with police work because people who planted explosives had not been
found, Racan said he, too, was not particularly satisfied that the
cases were still open but that one should establish what the problem
was and solve it.
(hina) ha sb