PM, PRESIDENT COMMENT ON GOTOVINA'S INTERVIEW TO "NACIONAL"

ZAGREB, June 10 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan said Tuesday General Ante Gotovina must "make a full step" towards the Hague's international war crimes tribunal (ICTY), in which he could count on the government's help. President Stjepan Mesic said "by answering questions" of the ICTY, the Croatian general could amend the unfavourable position he had been placed in by the previous government by not allowing him to defend himself in the investigative part of the process. #L# Racan and Mesic commented on Nacional weekly's interview with the fugitive general, indicted by the ICTY for crimes against humanity and breaches of the laws and customs of war during and after the "Storm" liberation operation. "General Gotovina must make a full step, not half a step," Racan said when asked about the interview. He added the indictment may be contested only at the ICTY. "General Gotovina will do a good job both for himself and Croatia if he makes a full step. We will help his defence against unjust elements of the indictment," the PM said. He recalled that he had once written to the ICTY's chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, objecting to unjust elements of the indictment against Gotovina. "If the (Nacional) interview is authentic and if (Gotovina's) stands are authentic, I can only say it is commendable that General Gotovina accepts and recognises the Hague tribunal, that he accepts to defend himself from charges listed in the indictment and from the things that are, for him and myself, unacceptable in the indictment," Racan said. He stressed only the ICTY was competent for contesting indictments. He emphasised, however, one could not negotiate with the tribunal about how "to turn an indictment into suspicion or an indictee into a suspect". President Stjepan Mesic is confident in the authenticity of the interview with Gotovina published by the latest issue of Nacional and denied that he or his office had taken part in preparations for the interview. "Since I am familiar with many circumstances and facts, I can only deem that the interview is authentic," Mesic said in response to reporters' questions about the interview. General Gotovina "may expect the status General Stipetic (was given) only when he replies to the tribunal's questions, which is, most probably, a prerequisite", Mesic said. Mesic said that based on material he had seen and which relate to acts for which Gotovina had been indicted, he concluded that General Gotovina would have "been far better off if he managed to speak to the tribunal's investigators". "This can now be rectified with the ICTY so that he simply directly answers to questions which interest them," Mesic said, adding that Gotovina had not avoided questions which he should answer to the ICTY. "He left (Croatia) because he opposed the way he was indicted and because his chance to answer to investigators and explain what he was accused of was taken away from him," the president said, adding Gotovina "is a victim of the former government". Even then it was clear that if a person is not given a chance to defend himself in investigative proceedings, an indictment will follow, Mesic said. "It was obviously in the interest of somebody in the former government for Gotovina to go through what he has been, and he did not want to be a victim," Mesic said. He added Gotovina had left because he did not want to end up like General Tihomir Blaskic and because the former authorities' attitude towards him had not been fair. "Some wanted to score political points on Gotovina and he is a victim in that sense also," Mesic concluded. (hina) lml sb