DEL PONTE READY TO HEAR GOTOVINA WHEN HE ARRIVES AT THE HAGUE

ROME/ZAGREB, June 10 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor of the U.N. war crimes tribunal at The Hague (ICTY), Carla Del Ponte, is prepared to hear Croatian General Ante Gotovina as soon as he arrives at The Hague and, accordingly, take "all the necessary steps", the prosecutor's spokeswoman, Florance Hartmann, told Hina Tuesday. #L# "The prosecutor is prepared to hear (Gotovina) as soon as he arrives at The Hague. (She is prepared) to hear all he has to say and any information he may provide. Based on that, the prosecutor will take all necessary actions," Hartmann told Hina over the phone from Rome, where Del Ponte is on a working visit to the Italian government. "Every detail and each piece of information can be additionally investigated if necessary. We will analyse each piece of information to establish if it confirms what was said. If additional information is collected, it is possible to reach any conclusion, depending on the evidence," Hartmann said. In her public statements so far, Del Ponte has dismissed the possibility of changing Gotovina's indictment before his arrival at The Hague. According to the tribunal's practice hitherto, the prosecution has, with the consent of judges, amended indictments in many cases, either by extending them or abandoning some counts. It has also withdrawn some 20 indictments, mostly in the cases of low- ranking persons. In an interview for the latest issue of the Nacional weekly, General Gotovina said he "recognises the legitimacy of the Hague tribunal and is prepared to speak with its investigators in Zagreb", however, not in his current status of an indictee, but as a suspect, like generals Petar Stipetic and Mladen Markac. "If, after my testimony, (the tribunal) sticks with the indictment against me I will leave for The Hague voluntarily," Gotovina told the weekly. According to Hartmann, the ICTY Statute and Regulations do not allow the recognition of the status of suspect for a person against whom an indictment has been issued and confirmed. "He has the status of an ICTY indictee ... the only remaining issue is for him to surrender or be arrested and transferred to The Hague," she said. Asked whether the tribunal's willingness to hear Gotovina upon his arrival at The Hague means that the tribunal is partly accommodating Gotovina's requests, the spokeswoman said the prosecution had "a constructive and open approach" in its work. "Whether additional information be aggravating or mitigating, we do not conceal or dismiss them. Our goal is to get to the truth about an individual's liability," she said. ICTY spokesman Jim Landale told Hina Gotovina was an indictee of the tribunal and a fugitive and had to be extradited to The Hague. Landale refused to comment on Gotovina's statements given in the interview to the Nacional weekly, but said that upon arrival at The Hague, the Croatian general would have all the legal assistance of an attorney and consultant at his disposal so he might contest the charges listed in the indictment. In his interview, Gotovina resents the former government's having kept from him the fact that ICTY investigators had requested to speak to him, and the fact that with the issuing of the indictment against him in July 2001, he had been presented with an accomplished fact. "In April and May 1998, we sent an urgent request to the Croatian government for Gotovina to be interviewed, but we received no response. Our requests were ignored," Hartmann said. The tribunal continued the investigation and on the basis of collected information and evidence issued the indictment which was confirmed, she added. General Gotovina has been charged according to individual and command responsibility with crimes against humanity and breaches of the law and customs of war committed during and after the 1995 "Storm" operation. (hina) lml sb