ICTY PROSECUTION RECEIVES MESIC'S LETTER

THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, June 13 (Hina) - The Prosecution of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) received on Thursday a letter by Croatian President Stjepan Mesic with proposals regarding the indictment against General Ante Gotovina, spokesman for the ICTY prosecutor's office Florance Hartmann confirmed Friday. #L# "We received President Mesic's letter yesterday. We will examine every element of the letter and give an extensive reply," said the spokeswoman. She did not wish to prejudge the ICTY's answers to Mesic's proposals, adding the Prosecution "will give priority to the response to President Mesic in line with previously stressed principles". President Mesic sent a letter to Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte suggesting that the indictment against the Croatian general be amended or withdrawn and offered a guarantee that Gotovina would be willing to talk to ICTY investigators in Zagreb if enabled to appear as a suspect. Mesic's proposal will be dealt with by the ICTY Prosecution in keeping with the law, namely Statute and Regulations of the Tribunal, the spokeswoman said Wednesday. Gotovina will be questioned by the prosecution as soon as he arrives at The Hague and the prosecutor has engaged herself in this case, said Hartmann. The Croatian President's Office has forwarded a number of documents regarding the "Gotovina case" to the government's office for cooperation with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, so the documents could be de-classified and forwarded to the ICTY. Mesic said at the opening of the new US Embassy in Zagreb Friday that "documents which can help Gotovina's defence have only recently been discovered". Frano Krnic, head of the Croatian government's commission for cooperation with the U.N. war crimes tribunal, said the documents related to the exodus of Serbs from the so-called Krajina in 1995 and orders signed by General Gotovina. (hina) it