ZAGREB, Sept 17 (Hina) - The news that the Hague-based international war crimes tribunal has issued an indictment against Croatia's general Janko Bobetko and that a request for his extradition would arrive next week are media
speculation, the spokeswoman for the tribunal, Florance Hartmann, said on Tuesday.
ZAGREB, Sept 17 (Hina) - The news that the Hague-based
international war crimes tribunal has issued an indictment against
Croatia's general Janko Bobetko and that a request for his
extradition would arrive next week are media speculation, the
spokeswoman for the tribunal, Florance Hartmann, said on Tuesday.
#L#
This is media speculation which the tribunal does not comment. At
this time there are no new indictments with regards to Croatia,
Hartmann told Hina over the telephone.
Citing a source close to the Croatian government, Croatia's weekly
"Nacional" writes in its recent issue that "The Hague indictment
against General Janko Bobetko was signed, and the government
informed about it". It also says that along with the indictment, the
government will be receiving a request for his extradition to the
Hague.
The government's Office for cooperation with the tribunal said it
had no information about an indictment against Bobetko.
"The Office has no knowledge about this," the head of the government
office, Orsat Miljanic, told Hina.
After it issues an indictment, the Hague prosecution sends it for
confirmation to the tribunal's judges, after which it comes into
effect.
The practice is that after that the indictment and an arrest warrant
are forwarded to the country on whose territory the indicted person
is residing or is believed to reside.
A source in the Croatian government said at the end of March that new
indictments for crimes committed in Croatia were not to be expected
before autumn.
During contacts with the media so far, officials of the tribunal's
prosecution have stated clearly that they were carrying out a
number of investigations into crimes committed in the region of the
former Yugoslavia, including those in Croatia allegedly committed
during Croatian liberation operations "Storm" and "Pocket of
Medak".
The prosecution said two years ago that it intended to complete all
probes by 2004, which means that it should issue all planned
indictments by then.
(hina) lml