ZAGREB, Sept 10 (Hina) - The Croatian government and the embassies of 15 European Union countries and the United States in Zagreb in early September received a non-paper by Carla Del Ponte, chief prosecutor of the Hague-based UN war
crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), in which Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal is described as improved but not fully satisfactory, an unnamed senior government source confirmed in Zagreb on Wednesday.
ZAGREB, Sept 10 (Hina) - The Croatian government and the embassies
of 15 European Union countries and the United States in Zagreb in
early September received a non-paper by Carla Del Ponte, chief
prosecutor of the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY), in which Croatia's cooperation with the
tribunal is described as improved but not fully satisfactory, an
unnamed senior government source confirmed in Zagreb on Wednesday.
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Cooperation between Croatia and the ICTY's prosecution has
advanced since the chief prosecutor's last visit to Croatia in
April 2003, but there are segments of that cooperation which are not
fully satisfactory, which gives rise to concern in light of the
ICTY's exit strategy, reads the unofficial document.
The non-paper was sent after the adoption of UN Security Council
Resolution 1503, which confirmed Del Ponte's new term as ICTY chief
prosecutor and defined the ICTY's and its prosecution's exit
strategy. The non-paper was forwarded ahead of a report which Del
Ponte is to submit to the UN Security Council in October, with a note
that it will be possible to solve all or most open issues by that
time, which would enable the prosecution to state that Croatia is
fully cooperating.
It is estimated that before she submits the report, Del Ponte will
visit all countries in the region, including Croatia in early
October, the government source said.
"Although this is a non-paper, it is still Del Ponte's official
stand and so far the most positive written document on Croatia's
cooperation with the tribunal," the source said, adding that the
document also contained some ambiguities. By September 20 the
Office for Cooperation with the ICTY will complete a report for Del
Ponte with an "inventory" of all obligations and indisputable
segments of cooperation, the source said. The main objections and
pressures coming from the chief prosecutor refer to the case of
General Ante Gotovina, who has been on the run for almost two
years.
In the non-paper, the chief prosecutor says that available
information indicates that Gotovina is either in Croatia or in
Herzegovina, and points to his recent interviews, which she says
were given despite official claims that nobody knows his
whereabouts.
Del Ponte says that it is important that the Croatian government
make active efforts to locate and arrest Gotovina, and adds that it
is unacceptable for the government to wait for somebody else to
secure relevant information or for Gotovina to surrender himself.
The government's efforts in that regard are described as
insufficient.
The situation with Gotovina poses the question of the government's
ability to control special services and act without delay upon the
issuing of new indictments by the ICTY, reads the document.
The government source said that the government was not satisfied
"with intelligence services having failed to do their job over the
past two years", however, it could not accept its control over
intelligence services being questioned.
The source dismissed press claims that an investigation had been
launched in the Counter-Intelligence Agency following receipt of
the non-paper, but indicated that the investigation had been
launched following a previous affair, regarding the tapping of a
foreign embassy.
"The three intelligence services and police do not have any
information indicating that Gotovina is in Croatia nor do they have
information on his whereabouts. The reward that was offered for his
arrest has not given any results," the source said.
The source said that the search for Gotovina "is a very demanding
task given his experience and psychological profile" and estimated
that "Gotovina has excluded from communication anyone who could
bear any risk and is probably not in direct contact with anyone from
Croatia".
As for the possibility of Croatian intelligence services to operate
abroad, the source said that this was "connected to reports by
partner intelligence services" but there had been no reports
regarding Gotovina.
The ICTY's prosecution has objected that the government has not
done all it should have done (in the Gotovina case), but if it
accepted the fact that Gotovina is abroad, the government would be
relieved of responsibility and pressure as the case would become an
international problem, the source said.
It is encouraging that Croatia has expressed commitment to act
immediately upon any new indictments/arrest warrants, reads the
document.
The prosecution considers the situation regarding requests for
documents, access to archives and availability of potential
witnesses and suspects as good, reads the document.
According to the non-paper, the Office for Cooperation with the
ICTY on August 7 received a list of all of the prosecution's
requests for assistance and information, with 16 requests still not
met, which points to the importance of local investigations and
processing of war crimes, considering the ICTY's exit strategy.
The document states that only one serious war crimes trial with a
serious outcome - that of Norac, Oreskovic and others - was held in
Croatia, in Rijeka, although a number of cases were processed, but
not so successfully, such as the "Lora case".
The government source says that the tribunal is probably waiting
for the verdict in the Rijeka trial to become final, after which it
would decide about the possible transfer to Croatia of trials for
violations of the law of war in Operation "Medak Pocket", which is
being investigated by the State Prosecution.
Del Ponte's document also reads that Croatia is expected to act
maturely in processing all war crimes suspects regardless of the
nationality of perpetrators and victims.
(hina) rml