VUKOVAR/ZAGREB, Oct 14 (Hina) - The president of Croatia's parliament, Zlatko Tomcic, said in Vukovar on Tuesday he was surprised at and disappointed with the inconsistency of the ICTY Chief Prosecutor's statements.
VUKOVAR/ZAGREB, Oct 14 (Hina) - The president of Croatia's
parliament, Zlatko Tomcic, said in Vukovar on Tuesday he was
surprised at and disappointed with the inconsistency of the ICTY
Chief Prosecutor's statements. #L#
"I must say I'm a bit surprised at and bit disappointed with the
incredible inconsistency of Mrs. Carla Del Ponte's statements. In
only several days she gave three very different statements," Tomcic
told Croatian Radio.
"In Zagreb she was extremely satisfied with Croatia's cooperation
with the Hague tribunal in connection with the submission of
documents and access to witnesses and suspects. In New York, before
the Security Council, she already had certain objections to
cooperation regarding documents and witnesses, but in both Zagreb
and New York she stressed that the issue of General Gotovina was
still open," Tomcic.
It is unbelievable, Tomcic said, that in her third statement before
the EU Council of Ministers several days later, Del Ponte was almost
resolute that Gotovina was in Croatia after all. "She even
presented some, in my opinion, very strange data: that she knew on
which yacht Gotovina was on and who owns it," said Tomcic.
Based on such statements, European institutions, primarily the
European Union, will show reservations towards Croatia, Tomcic
said.
"I believe this is a strong signal to the Croatian government to
urgently react and tell the full truth about this entire case and
voice its opinion on the reasons of the inconsistency and
unreliability of Carla Del Ponte's statements," Tomcic said.
The chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia said in Luxembourg on Monday she and Croatian Prime
Minister Ivica Racan had different information about runaway
Croatian general Ante Gotovina's whereabouts.
She also said she was satisfied with the fact that a Croatian daily
ran a story claiming that Gotovina was in Croatia, adding that she
knew who was the owner of the yacht on which Gotovina was this
summer.
Racan said the government checked a variety of data and information
and that there was not a single lead that Gotovina was in Croatia. He
added that he always said, for the sake of caution, that this did not
mean that he was definitely not in Croatia.
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