WASHINGTON, May 29 (Hina) - It is difficult to believe that Ante Gotovina would listen to any advice given by a minister in a government that was the first to falsely accuse Croatia of ethnic cleansing during the Homeland War,
Gotovina's attorney Luka Misetic said commenting on a call by British Minister Denis MacShane to Gotovina to give himself up to the Hague Tribunal.
WASHINGTON, May 29 (Hina) - It is difficult to believe that Ante
Gotovina would listen to any advice given by a minister in a
government that was the first to falsely accuse Croatia of ethnic
cleansing during the Homeland War, Gotovina's attorney Luka
Misetic said commenting on a call by British Minister Denis
MacShane to Gotovina to give himself up to the Hague Tribunal. #L#
As a patriotic Croat, Gotovina will defend himself and Croatia from
senseless accusations of ethnic cleansing of 150,000 to 200,000
Serbs in Croatia, Misetic said.
At a press conference in Zagreb on Wednesday, Britain's Minister
for Southeast Europe in the Foreign Office called on Gotovina to
fulfil his duty as a patriotic Croat and give himself up to The Hague
so that he can remove any barriers to full normalisation of
relations between Croatia and the EU.
Attorney Misetic noted that the then British defence minister,
Michael Portillo accused Croatia of ethnic cleansing on August 7,
1995. As such, Misetic believes that London should withdraw its
accusations and MacShane should admit that his government had made
a mistake in 1995.
Misetic recalled that the then US Ambassador to Croatia, Peter
Galbraith, correctly concluded that Minister Portilla's claims
were incorrect because Croatian Serbs left at the orders of their
leaders.
(hina) lml