WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Oct 9 (Hina) - Croatia will continue offering unreserved support to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and take measures to prosecute war criminals if they are within the reach of
its bodies, Croatia's permanent representative at the United Nations, Vladimir Drobnjak, said in New York on Thursday, pointing also to a number of shortcomings in the tribunal's work.
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Oct 9 (Hina) - Croatia will continue offering
unreserved support to the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and take measures to prosecute war
criminals if they are within the reach of its bodies, Croatia's
permanent representative at the United Nations, Vladimir Drobnjak,
said in New York on Thursday, pointing also to a number of
shortcomings in the tribunal's work. #L#
Speaking at the UN General Assembly after the ICTY president, Judge
Theodore Meron, submitted his annual report on the tribunal's work,
Drobnjak stated that Croatia was fully aware of the importance of
full cooperation with the ICTY for the completion of the tribunal's
tasks by 2010.
Croatia will continue to provide unreserved, concrete support and
all the assistance requested by the ICTY and the Prosecutor's
Office, Drobnjak said.
Within its borders Croatia will take all the necessary measures to
prosecute perpetrators of war crimes, if they are within the reach
of its judiciary, the ambassador said.
Speaking about the case of runaway general Ante Gotovina, who is
still at large, Drobnjak said that Croatia was regularly informing
the ICTY's prosecution about the activities it was taking to find
the fugitive general.
The ambassador said that there were no open issues between Croatia
and the ICTY regarding the urgent provision of requested
documents.
He pointed to a number of shortcomings in the tribunal's work,
including its expensiveness and insufficient efficiency, and
stated that some interpretations by the prosecution were
understood as distortion of historical facts.
Some interpretations by the ICTY's prosecution of the historical
circumstances and the political genesis of the conflict in the
former Yugoslavia and the character of military operations were not
fully in line with the UN General Assembly's resolution on occupied
Croatian areas and the spirit of Security Council resolutions, he
said.
The same applies to some indictments, which those who suffered
during the war in the area of the former Yugoslavia have understood
as distortion of facts about the actual architects of war crimes in
Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Drobnjak said.
In spite of the tribunal's shortcomings, Croatia acknowledges its
work and achievements in bids to bring to justice those who are
responsible for war crimes committed in the area of the former
Yugoslavia, regardless of their nationality.
Speaking about the ICTY's exit strategy, under which the tribunal
is to complete all investigations by the end of 2004, all trials by
the end of 2008 and all appeals proceedings by the end of 2010,
Drobnjak said the strategy brought closer the accomplishment of an
efficient and successful mission.
With regard to the completion of investigations by the end of 2004,
Drobnjak said that this would help prevent harmful political
tensions in former Yugoslav countries.
Croatia supports efforts to transfer war crimes trials to national
courts, as well as the tribunal's efforts to help national courts
prosecute such cases.
Croatia has been conducting investigations and trials in many war
crimes cases and it has adopted a law on cooperation with the
International Criminal Court, which reinforces possibilities for
countries to prosecute war crimes, said Drobnjak, adding that
Croatia was ready to closely cooperate with the ICTY in war crimes
trials.
Speaking about shortcomings in the tribunal's work, Drobnjak said
the ICTY could not boast the highest possible efficiency despite
recent progress, and that with an annual budget of more than one
billion dollars it was very expensive.
Since trials are held far from the countries and communities where
the crimes were committed, they sometimes fail to fully affect
local communities, he said.
Another problem is the fact that the ICTY does not pay compensation
to those who were wrongly indicted, the ambassador said.
Drobnjak also said that one should allow people convicted by the
ICTY to serve their sentences in countries in the region, including
Croatia.
(hina) rml