PULA, May 16 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan said on Friday "the government does not know the whereabouts of General Ante Gotovina. If it did, he would be arrested".
PULA, May 16 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan said on
Friday "the government does not know the whereabouts of General
Ante Gotovina. If it did, he would be arrested". #L#
Racan said this during his visit to Pula after being asked to
comment on a statement made by the chief prosecutor of the Hague-
based international war crimes tribunal (ICTY), Carla Del Ponte,
that the Croatian government knew Gotovina's whereabouts and the
only issues were his arrest and the political decision to do so,
according to Voice of America today.
"I do not believe it was said like that. We will check if the
statement was indeed as it was relayed. I categorically state that
the government does not know the whereabouts of General Gotovina.
If it did, he would be arrested. We have repeated several times to
people, especially those abroad, that if they have any piece of
information, we will act responsibly," Racan said.
Voice of America today relayed Del Ponte's statement which she gave
to the United States Congress' Helsinki Commission yesterday.
According to Voice of America, Del Ponte said the Croatian
government denied knowing where Gotovina was, but the ICTY did. The
tribunal gave this information to Croatia and expects the general
to be arrested because locating him is not a problem. They know
where he is, Del Ponte said. She said she believed the general was in
Croatia. The only issues are the act of arrest and the political
will to do so, she said, according to VOA.
The head of Croatia's office for cooperation with the ICTY, Frane
Krnic, on Friday called the head of the ICTY liaison office in
Zagreb, Thomas Osorio, for talks.
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