GOVT GIVEN THREE DAYS TO APPEAL AGAINST RULING IN GOTOVINA CASE

ZAGREB, Dec 8 (Hina) - The Office of the State Prosecutor and defence counsel for General Ante Gotovina on Monday confirmed receipt of a partial court ruling that gave the government three days to provide the fugitive general's attorneys with 77 documents it had sent to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. #L# "Today we received a partial ruling from the Zagreb Municipal Court. The government, which is represented in court by the Office of the State Prosecutor, must decide by Thursday whether it will lodge an appeal," Deputy State Prosecutor Jadranko Jug told Hina. Jug said that further moves by the Office of the State Prosecutor would depend on the instruction by the government, which has the right to appeal within three days of receipt of the judgement. An appeal is to be filed with the Zagreb County Court, but it does not stay the execution of the ruling. Ante Vukorepa, one of the lawyers for Gotovina, said he expected that the government would abide by the ruling and would immediately provide the defence with the requested documents. Expressing discontent with the partial ruling, Vukorepa said that "the defence will finally be able to see some of the documents that will assist in the preparation of Gotovina's defence." He added that the defence did not know the content of the 77 documents. At the end of last week, the Zagreb Municipal Court issued a partial ruling ordering the government to deliver the documents to Gotovina's lawyers. Commenting on the ruling, Florence Hartmann, spokeswoman for the Office of the Prosecutor of the Hague tribunal, said that General Gotovina's lawyers were entitled to those documents, but only after the general appeared before the tribunal and entered a plea. (hina) vm sb