STATE PROSECUTION APPEALS RULING ON DOCUMENTS SOUGHT BY GOTOVINA

ZAGREB, Dec 11 (Hina) - The State Prosecutor's Office on Thursday filed an appeal against a non-final verdict of the Zagreb Municipal Court ordering the government to deliver to General Ante Gotovina's attorneys part of the documents it had sent to the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Deputy Chief State Prosecutor Jozo Jurcevic told Hina. #L# The appeal of the State Prosecutor's Office, which represents the government in the case "Gotovina Vs. the Government", was filed at the proposal of the Office for Cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). There is no deadline within which the Zagreb County Court has to make a ruling in the case. When the government last year appealed against the ruling of the court of first instance, which was in Gotovina's favour, the County Court took more than four months to decide that the proceedings be repeated. The Zagreb Municipal Court's decision, against which the Office of the State Prosecutor appealed, orders the government to provide to the runaway general's attorneys, within three days from receipt of its ruling, 77 documents which it has already sent to the Hague- based tribunal. The State Prosecutor's Office believes that Gotovina may seek the documents in the process of transfer to the Hague tribunal, which is conducted against him at the Zagreb County Court, or before the UN tribunal itself. The Office believes that the decision of the Municipal Court allowing Gotovina to file a lawsuit against the government is a dangerous precedent because it disturbs the "coherence of the legal system". It also claims that the court of first instance has encroached upon the jurisdiction of the County Court and the UN tribunal because it allowed Gotovina to make requests in special proceedings instead of before the said courts, as regulated by the Constitutional Law on Cooperation with the ICTY. The Office also believes that the Municipal Court had erroneously established that the person whom Gotovina authorised to represent him has the authority to act as his defence counsel before the UN tribunal and in the process of extradition. The Office further states that this power of attorney refers to proceedings before domestic state bodies, but not before the UN tribunal. Referring to the fact that international law has priority over domestic legislation, the Office says that Gotovina's attorneys have failed to provide any evidence that the UN tribunal recognised them as defence counsel. (hina) rml sb