ZAGREB, June 1 (Hina) - Croatia will soon get a law which should strengthen its position in relation to international courts and enable it to take over trials for the gravest crimes, primarily war crimes, official sources have
confirmed.
ZAGREB, June 1 (Hina) - Croatia will soon get a law which should
strengthen its position in relation to international courts and
enable it to take over trials for the gravest crimes, primarily war
crimes, official sources have confirmed. #L#
The draft law is already in procedure. The government should
formulate the final draft at one of the upcoming sessions and send
it to parliament for urgent adoption.
The law will regulate the application of the Statute of the
International Criminal Court (ICC), to which Croatia acceded, as
well as part of the cooperation with the Hague tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Croatia's current provisions on cooperation with the ICTY,
including the constitutional law on cooperation, will remain in
force after the new law has been passed.
"It should be adopted soon," Justice Minister Ingrid Anticevic-
Marinovic has told Hina when asked about the law on the application
of the ICC Statute and the prosecution of crimes against
international war and humanitarian laws.
Under the new law, the chief state prosecutor will appoint one of
his deputies as state prosecutor for war crimes, while the interior
ministry will set up a department for war crimes and their
perpetrators and cooperation with the ICC.
County courts in Zagreb, Osijek, Split, and Rijeka will be
competent for trials for the most serious crimes -- genocide,
crimes against humanity, war crimes -- as well as for deciding on
the extradition of suspects to the ICTY or their surrender to the
ICC.
Whether the Hague tribunal will turn over trials for crimes which
were committed before the ICC Statute came into force on 1 July 2002
will depend on the effectiveness and quality of the prosecution and
sentencing for the gravest crimes before domestic courts.
The ICTY is temporary while the Rome-based ICC is a standing court
in charge of crimes committed after July 1 last year.
Croatia is bound to cooperate with the ICTY by a U.N. decision,
while accession to the ICC by signing its Statute was voluntary.
The government would be in charge of cooperation with and the
execution of ICC decisions, while communication would be conducted
by diplomatic route.
The ICC will prosecute only those cases when it is established that
the state does not want to or is not capable of seriously
prosecuting them, Ivo Josipovic, a professor of penal procedural
law, has told Hina. He is the author of the working version of the
new law which was turned into the final draft with minor
alterations.
The law stipulates for the first time that the most expert judges,
as well as police and state prosecution staff, have to be appointed
to the investigation and prosecution of the gravest crimes.
(hina) ha