ZAGREB, May 13 (Hina) - Zagreb's Municipal Court has formed a three-member panel of judges but it has still not set the date for a hearing to reconsider a lawsuit filed by attorneys of the Hague war crimes tribunal's indictee Ante
Gotovina against the government for its refusal to make available documents they had requested, court officials said.
ZAGREB, May 13 (Hina) - Zagreb's Municipal Court has formed a three-
member panel of judges but it has still not set the date for a
hearing to reconsider a lawsuit filed by attorneys of the Hague war
crimes tribunal's indictee Ante Gotovina against the government
for its refusal to make available documents they had requested,
court officials said. #L#
"A panel has been set up to decide about the lawsuit for unlawful
activity, but the date for the hearing has not been set yet," said
the head of the civil action department of Zagreb's Municipal
Court, Slavko Pavkovic.
Pavkovic was president of a three-member panel of judges which last
June passed a ruling ordering the government to hand to Gotovina's
attorneys documents it had sent to the Hague-based tribunal
regarding the indictment against Gotovina.
However, the Zagreb County Court quashed the ruling in December and
returned the case to the Municipal Court to reconsider it.
An MP of the Croatian Social Liberal Party, Josko Kontic, this week
announced an interpellation under which the government, should the
document be accepted, would have to hand over the requested
documents to Gotovina's attorneys within a week. Prime Minister
Ivica Racan yesterday said the government would hand over the
documents once the ongoing court proceedings were completed.
The Zagreb County Court returned the case to the Municipal Court
instructing it to reconsider if the attorneys' complaint had been
drawn up adequately. In their original complaint Gotovina's
attorneys did not specify the requested documents so the government
was not able to respond to the lawyers' complaint.
During the proceedings at the Municipal Court it was established
that 77 documents regarding Gotovina's indictment had been sent to
the tribunal from different sources. Gotovina's attorneys also
requested that the government make available an unspecified number
of military orders, transcripts, video and audio recordings,
reports and logs about the operations of the Croatian army in which
Gotovina participated. Most of the requested documentation
referred to Operation "Storm".
Retired General Ante Gotovina was indicted in June 2001 for crimes
against humanity and violations of the law and customs of war
committed against the Serb population during the 1995 Operation
"Storm".
Gotovina has been at large since and Interpol issued an
international warrant for his arrest.
(hina) rml