ZAGREB, June 15 (Hina) - Two years after indicting Croatian Gen. Ante Gotovina for crimes against humanity, the Hague tribunal may reconsider its charges, says the latest issue of Newsweek.
ZAGREB, June 15 (Hina) - Two years after indicting Croatian Gen.
Ante Gotovina for crimes against humanity, the Hague tribunal may
reconsider its charges, says the latest issue of Newsweek. #L#
Tribunal officials now acknowledge that the accusations against
him -- that he was responsible for the murder of at least 150 ethnic
Serbs and the flight of more than 150,000 in 1995 -- were based on
circumstantial evidence, the reputed American magazine reports on
its web site.
"Circumstantial evidence is valid unless there is some other
reasonable hypothesis," a Hague prosecution official told Newsweek
reported Roy Gutman.
The source, however, said that documents released last Friday could
contain evidence proving the fugitive general "was not
responsible" for those crimes.
Gotovina emerged from hiding last week, offering to surrender if
the tribunal withdraws the indictment.
"After they hear my statement, if they continue to hold the
indictment against me, I will voluntarily go to The Hague. I truly
have nothing to hide," Newsweek cited a part of Gotovina's
interview to Croatia's weekly Nacional.
If Gotovina is freed, the tribunal will have to face the fact that it
issued an eight-count indictment based on untruths, the Newsweek
reporter says.
"The most bizarre charge, the deportation of Serbs from the Krajina
region of Croatia, flew in the face of media reports that the Serb
exodus was ordered by Serb leaders," reporter Gutman says.
Florence Hartmann, spokeswoman for the ICTY Prosecutor's Office
who was at the time a correspondent for France's Le Monde paper,
said: "Our only purpose is to establish truth."
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