ZAGREB COUNTY COURT RECEIVES HAGUE ORDER TO SERVE BOBETKO WITH INDICTMENT

ZAGREB, March 26 (Hina) - Zagreb's county court has received an order from the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague to serve retired general Janko Bobetko or his attorney with the indictment against Bobetko, which would suspend the arrest warrant for him, the court said on Wednesday. #L# "The Ministry of Justice has delivered the Hague tribunal's order, which now has to be considered, and the court will then proceed in line with regulations," court president Bozidar Rumenjak told Hina. He said that according to the Law on Criminal Procedure, the serving of the indictment was a procedure which the 83-year-old Bobetko, according to doctors' findings, was unfit to undergo. Not wishing to prejudge the investigating judge's decision, Rumenjak said another examination of Bobetko would likely be requested. "The new order binds us to do so anyway as The Hague asks for monthly reports on the condition of the accused," he said, announcing the Zagreb county court would issue an official statement tomorrow. Goran Mikulicic, the government's legal advisor in the Bobetko case, has said the latest request from the Hague tribunal, to serve Bobetko with the indictment in exchange for suspending a warrant for his arrest and surrender, is "a Solomonic solution by a court taking action in an open case". Mikulicic believes the concrete motive for the Hague's request could be some things Bobetko has done while in hospital, which chief Hague prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, too, has questioned. "They were probably provoked to initiate this whole procedure by Bobetko's conduct in the hospital, his receiving some delegations, accepting certain awards, giving interviews, so they believe he is fit to receive the indictment as well," said Mikulicic. Under the latest order from The Hague, Croatia has until April 4 to confirm that the indictment has been served on Bobetko or his attorney. (hina) ha sb