ONLY POSSIBLE CONCESSION BY ICTY IS TO SEND INVESTIGATORS TO ZAGREB

ZAGREB, June 17 (Hina) - A decision to send its investigators to Zagreb to interview indicted general Ante Gotovina may be the only concession the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is willing to make after Croatian President Stjepan Mesic sent a letter to ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, a senior Croatian government official, who wished to remain anonymous, said on Tuesday. #L# This, of course, is conditional on General Gotovina's surrender, the same source said. According to unofficial information, the ICTY's reply to Mesic's letter could arrive in Zagreb during the day or tomorrow. Assumptions about the possible concession by the ICTY are based on the fact that both requests by ICTY investigators to talk to Gotovina, first as a suspect and later as an indictee, were sent in 1998, at the time when the then official Croatian authorities did not recognise the ICTY's jurisdiction over "Flash" and "Storm" operations. This was done only by the new authorities in the spring of 2000, with the Declaration on the Homeland War, which government officials say can be interpreted as a new legal framework for cooperation between Croatia and the ICTY. The government source recalled that the tribunal had not repeated its request for an interview with Gotovina after the adoption of the Declaration, which could be the basis for a visit by ICTY investigators to Zagreb to interview Gotovina. (hina) rml