THE HAGUE, June 10 (Hina) - The testimony of Ivic Pasalic, a former advisor to late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, before the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, ended a little after 8 p.m. on Monday, even though it was to end by 7
p.m.
THE HAGUE, June 10 (Hina) - The testimony of Ivic Pasalic, a former
advisor to late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, before the war
crimes tribunal in The Hague, ended a little after 8 p.m. on Monday,
even though it was to end by 7 p.m. #L#
During almost two hours of questioning at the trial against Mladen
Naletilic aka Tuta and Vinko Martinovic aka Stela, Pasalic was
answering questions relating to transcripts from the President's
Office and the influence Croatia had on the events in Bosnia-
Herzegovina.
Prosecutor Douglas Stringer began his cross-examination with a
series of questions about Pasalic's attitude towards the
tribunal.
You opposed Croatia's co-operation with the tribunal, Stringer
asked, quoting a statement Pasalic made at one stage about the
possibility of discontinuing co-operation and annulling a
constitutional law on co-operation with the tribunal due to charges
against Croatian generals.
"That is not correct," Pasalic responded calmly.
He repeated that his party believed that the tribunal was not
authorised to investigate military operations "Storm" and "Flash",
and that the government at the time considered doing something in
that regard.
Interrupted by the defence team's protests, the prosecutor
attempted to ask several questions about General Ante Gotovina, but
questions such as whether Pasalic believed Gotovina should
surrender remained unanswered, in line with the judge's decision.
Asked if he made the statement on his testimony before the tribunal
to score political points, Pasalic answered negatively.
Stringer then asked a series of questions about the transcript of
the talks between Tudjman, Pasalic, Bosnian Croat politicians Mate
Boban and Jadranko Prlic, and former Croatian Foreign Minister Mate
Granic, at the President's Office on November 10, 1993. According
to the transcript, Tudjman replaced Bosnian Croat commanders,
deployed Croatian Army troops in the neighbouring country, and
appointed members of the government of the Croat Republic of
Herceg-Bosna.
"President Tudjman did not have such powers and certainly did not do
any such thing," Pasalic said, adding that he could not recall ever
attending the meeting.
Pasalic added that the transcripts from the President's Office had
been rejected as inauthentic on several occasions in court and
other proceedings.
He said that the disclosure of many of the transcripts from the
President's Office in the Croatian media was a method used by the
current president to discredit his political opponents.
(hina) sp rml