STATE PROSECUTOR: WE ARE CAPABLE OF PROCESSING ICTY CASES

ZAGREB, May 8 (Hina) - Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic said on Wednesday that the State Prosecution was capable of taking over the prosecution of war crimes from the Hague war crimes tribunal. He confirmed that his predecessor Radovan Ortynski had given him the documents on which he based his claims on collusion between the authorities and organised crime. #L# Bajic gave the statement after he was sworn in at a ceremony which was conducted by Parliament President Zlatko Tomcic. Bajic said that during talks with government officials several days ago he and Supreme Court president Ivica Crnic had stated that Croatian courts were able to take over all Hague cases which referred to Croatia and that they could "complete them in line with the law". Bajic said that he would request a meeting with the chief prosecutor of the Hague war crimes tribunal, Carla del Ponte, to discuss the transfer of those cases. The Chief Prosecutor said that one of the first tasks of the State Prosecution during his mandate was to "make an inventory of all war crimes cases so that it could be established what exactly they are about and whether or not previous cases have been correctly defined as war crimes". Bajic confirmed that Ortynski had handed over to the State Prosecution all documents he had in his possession. "The State Prosecution will closely inspect (the documents) and establish if Ortynski's claims on collusion between authority and organised crime are true and if the documents are credible, and then act in line with its powers," Bajic said. Bajic said he had information that most of the cases in question were already being processed. Asked if that meant that Ortynski had been doing his job in line with the law, Bajic said he would be able to answer that question only after he closely inspected the files. (hina) rml sb