ZAGREB, May 16 (Hina) - The head of Croatia's office for cooperation with the Hague-based international war crimes tribunal for the ex-Yugoslavia (ICTY), Frane Krnic, on Friday voiced his concern to a representative of ICTY's
prosecution about a claim by chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte that the Croatian government was familiar with the whereabouts of the runaway Croatian general Ante Gotovina.
ZAGREB, May 16 (Hina) - The head of Croatia's office for cooperation
with the Hague-based international war crimes tribunal for the ex-
Yugoslavia (ICTY), Frane Krnic, on Friday voiced his concern to a
representative of ICTY's prosecution about a claim by chief
prosecutor Carla Del Ponte that the Croatian government was
familiar with the whereabouts of the runaway Croatian general Ante
Gotovina. #L#
The government's public relations office reported that Krnic
invited the head of the ICTY's prosecution's liaison office, Thomas
Osorio, to urgently visit him to discuss Del Ponte's statement
given in Washington yesterday to the Helsinki Committee of the
United States' Congress, which was relayed by Voice of America
today.
Del Ponte said that the Croatian government knew the whereabouts of
General Ante Gotovina, but did not want to arrest or hand him over to
the ICTY.
"During the meeting (with Osorio), Krnic voiced surprise and
concern over Del Ponte's statement, particularly because it is in
complete contrast to reality and her statements given during her
latest visit to Zagreb when she agreed at a news conference that the
ICTY Prosecution's information about General Gotovina, which were
passed on to the Croatian side, were neither timely nor relevant for
locating him," the government reported.
Krnic asked that adequate steps be taken to clarify the accuracy of
Del Ponte's statement as soon as possible.
The statement says Osorio had vowed to contact the chief
prosecutor's office and provide an answer.
A senior government official who wished to remain anonymous told
reporters today the government never received any information
about Gotovina's whereabouts from the Hague tribunal, and that
Hague investigators were in direct contact with Croatian police,
but that not one piece of information had been provided by the ICTY
which might be useful to the police.
The official also said that the meeting between Krnic and Osorio had
been arranged also to find out if the ICTY had new information about
General Gotovina which the government should know.
The government hopes that this latest occurence is a case of wrongly
relayed information from Washington because Zagreb has no
information about anything having changed since Del Ponte's last
visit, when it was established that there was no information about
Gotovina which might be considered relevant.
(hina) lml sb