SARAJEVO, June 20 (Hina) - A spokesman for the international war crimes tribunal prosecution, Florance Hartmann, said on Thursday the Hague-based tribunal believes that Croatian general Ante Gotovina is still on Croatia, and that
Croatian authorities must undertake measures so he be arrested.
SARAJEVO, June 20 (Hina) - A spokesman for the international war
crimes tribunal prosecution, Florance Hartmann, said on Thursday
the Hague-based tribunal believes that Croatian general Ante
Gotovina is still on Croatia, and that Croatian authorities must
undertake measures so he be arrested. #L#
Hartmann told a news conference in Sarajevo that the tribunal was in
constant contact with Croatian authorities to establish Gotovina's
whereabouts.
A Hague tribunal delegation headed by the tribunal's president,
Claude Jorda, is visiting Sarajevo.
Hartmann recalled that Gotovina was only one of thirty people
indicted for war crimes who are at large.
Most are hiding in Yugoslavia or the Bosnian Serb entity. General
Gotovina is still presumed to be in Croatia, Hartmann said.
She stressed that the tribunal was generally satisfied with
cooperation with Croatia so far, which is why it expected Zagreb to
do everything necessary to bring Gotovina before justice, as other
indictees Croatia had extradited.
As opposed to Croatia and the Bosnian Federation which are fully
cooperating with the Hague-based tribunal, authorities in Belgrade
and the Bosnian Serb entity continue to avoid their obligations,
Hartmann said, adding that Yugoslavia had done some steps, but that
it was far from true cooperation.
She said that the tribunal had information that a former Bosnian
Serb leader, Ratko Mladic, was still hiding in Yugoslavia, and the
local authorities were doing nothing to arrest him.
Republika Srpska authorities are behaving the same, refusing to
cooperate in Radovan Karadzic's arrest, Hartmann said.
The Bosnian Serb entity is not cooperation in securing access to
documents, either, she said. They have a completely passive
approach to the issue of processing war crimes, she said.
A tribunal spokesman, Jim Landale, said that without the arrest of
Karadzic and Mladic, no trials would be transferred to Bosnian
courts.
The tribunal delegation which discussed the possibility of
transferring cases to Bosnian courts with representatives of local
authorities, relayed a clear message that conditions must be
created so the local judiciary could handle a part of the processes
against war crimes indictees.
The tribunal is requesting that the Bosnian state court establish a
special section which would be dealing exclusively with war
criminals, and that it secure other conditions, such as witness and
victim protection programmes, locations for serving prison
sentences, and to harmonise local regulations and laws relating to
the issue of war crimes.
The time frame in which cases could be transferred to the local
judiciary has not been set by the tribunal yet, but Landale said
that the tribunal would certainly wish for it to happen as soon as
possible.
Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte announced earlier that Bosnian
courts could be let to conduct cases against some fifty low-profile
war crimes indictees.
(hina) lml