ZAGREB, April 4 (Hina) - Bosiljko Misetic, the defence attorney of a retired Croatian general, Janko Bobetko, on Friday afternoon denied receiving an indictment issued by the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague against his client.
However, the government reported it believed the indictment had been delivered normally and its obligation towards the U.N. war crimes tribunal was done.
ZAGREB, April 4 (Hina) - Bosiljko Misetic, the defence attorney of a
retired Croatian general, Janko Bobetko, on Friday afternoon
denied receiving an indictment issued by the U.N. war crimes
tribunal in The Hague against his client. However, the government
reported it believed the indictment had been delivered normally and
its obligation towards the U.N. war crimes tribunal was done. #L#
"The indictment was not delivered to me," Misetic told Hina on the
telephone after the government said in a press release it had handed
the indictment against Bobetko to Misetic.
The attorney said he "did not take over the letter by registered
mail and returned it (to the sender)".
"Serving an indictment is in the competence of a court, not the
government," Misetic said, adding that "the government ought to
know the scope of its authority and stick to regulations", in this
case, to the constitutional law on cooperation with the U.N.
tribunal and the law on criminal proceedings.
The government rebutted Misetic's claims.
"By delivering the indictment to General Bobetko's legal
representative, the government has completed its task," said the
government's public relations office head, Jadranka Kos.
Misetic "received and opened the registered mail, looked at its
contents, crossed out his signature on the receipt and returned
it," she said.
"Even if Misetic had refused to receive the registered mail, the
delivery would be done, according to provisions on delivery," says
the government.
The government's office for cooperation with the tribunal has
Bobetko's statement requesting the government to deliver all
documents, motions and notes from the tribunal to his chosen
attorney. The statement is accompanied by Bobetko's power of
attorney to Misetic to receive all documents referring to him.
Both documents were delivered to the government's office for
cooperation with the tribunal last September, the government
says.
The Zagreb County Court said today that it could not serve the
indictment on Bobetko due to his "poor and deteriorating
condition", and that due to the impossibility of serving the
indictment, there were no legal grounds for delivery to his
attorneys either.
"After the county court established a lack of legal grounds for
delivering the indictment to the attorneys, the question whether
the attorney received the indictment or not is irrelevant," a
Croatian legal expert who asked to be unnamed told Hina.
The government's office sent Misetic the indictment against
General Bobetko issued on August 23, 2002, the government said
earlier.
On March 19, a judge with the U.N. tribunal, Carmel Agius, issued an
order requesting Croatian authorities to serve the indictment on
Bobetko or his attorneys within 15 days and inform the tribunal
about it.
Immediately after the indictment was served, the tribunal would
suspend the warrant for Bobetko's arrest and extradition, the judge
said, asking that Croatian authorities provide the tribunal with
monthly reports on the general's health.
The war-time Croatian army chief-of-staff, Bobetko has been
accused, based on command and personal responsibility, of war
crimes committed in the 1993 Medak Pocket operation.
(hina) lml sb