ZAGREB, June 12 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said on Thursday he would personally receive General Ante Gotovina if he contacted him.
ZAGREB, June 12 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said on
Thursday he would personally receive General Ante Gotovina if he
contacted him. #L#
"If General Gotovina contacts me, I will certainly receive him
personally, because Gotovina is a reserve general and it is my duty
to receive him," Mesic said at the Croatian Academy of Arts and
Sciences when asked by reporters about his yesterday's decision to
propose that the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague (ICTY)
reconsider its indictment against Gotovina.
Mesic said he personally had not had contact with Gotovina and
believed the resolution of the situation regarding the runaway
general would now be accelerated.
Had the former government given Gotovina an opportunity to answer
questions by the ICTY investigators, he would have been able to
defend his honour and his Croatian Army, Mesic said.
Gotovina initiated more than 300 reports against his soldiers and
pressed criminal charges in more than 250 cases, which benefits him
as it was his duty to establish responsibility in any case he
learned of, Mesic said.
Mesic said it was his moral obligation to react after reading
Gotovina's interview to "Nacional" weekly. It is visible from the
interview that in 1998 Gotovina was banned from answering questions
by the tribunal's prosecution, which put him in a position where he
was unable to defend himself and present facts in his favour, he
said.
Asked whether he should have contacted the government with regard
to his decision, Mesic said it was not necessary to inform anyone,
including the government, about his activities so far regarding
Gotovina.
However, the government should be given all found documents as well
as those which may be found and which may influence Gotovina's file
at The Hague, Mesic said.
"We do not intend to hand those documents directly to the Hague
tribunal, but to the government's office for cooperation with the
tribunal," Mesic said.
Asked whether the tribunal would change parts of Gotovina's
indictment, Mesic said it was only the tribunal which could suggest
this to the prosecution.
"I am not a judge or a prosecutor, I am not defending General
Gotovina or helping him, I only want him to have the same treatment
as others, namely to be able to answer questions and defend
himself," Mesic said. He expected Gotovina to go to The Hague even
if the prosecution did not change his indictment, saying that the
general recognised the tribunal, Croatia's judiciary and its state
institutions in the interview.
Mesic said it was difficult for him to speculate about the reasons
which made Gotovina change his previous stand.
Gotovina may have seen that nobody can be granted amnesty from
answering before the Hague tribunal and that his political advisors
are only exploiting his situation to score political points. He is a
clever and reasonable man who has considered all the facts and
decided to act the way he acted, Mesic said.
(hina) rml sb