ICTY COMMENTS ON CROATIAN PRESIDENT'S PROPOSAL

ROME/ZAGREB, June 11 (Hina)- The proposal by Croatian President Stjepan Mesic to the ICTY that the indictment against General Ante Gotovina be re-examined and that the general be questioned in Zagreb as a suspect will be dealt with by the ICTY Prosecution in keeping with the law, namely Statute and Regulations of the Tribunal, the ICTY Prosecution's spokeswoman. Florence Hartmann, stated on Wednesday. #L# "It's a matter of respecting the law which is quite clear. A person who is considered an indictee can be questioned as an indictee in The Hague and enjoys an entire range of rights according to the Statute and Regulations of the ICTY," Hartmann said in a phone interview from Rome where Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte is currently conducting a working visit. "We acknowledge President Mesic' efforts in his country and the respect he has towards the Hague Tribunal which he always publicly expresses but our response will be in line with the law", she added. "According to the law the prosecution can question (Gotovina) as soon as he arrives in The Hague and the prosecutor has engaged herself in this case," Hartmann said adding that it was not possible to make exceptions to the law. President Mesic's letter has still not arrived at the Tribunal but when it does an official reply will follow, she said. General Gotovina has been at large since the indictment was raised against him two years ago. In his first interview since then, released on Tuesday in the Nacional weekly, he proposed that the ICTY investigators question him in Zagreb as a suspect and expressed his readiness to go to the Hague if he does not manage to convince them of his innocence. (Hina) sp it sb