ZAGREB, Sept 19 (Hina) - Parliament president Zlatko Tomcic set a break in Thursday's session following a request by all benches for consultations about the Hague war crimes tribunal's request for an interview with Gen. Janko Bobetko
in his capacity as defendant, and that the prime minister arrive in the parliament to brief them about the case.
ZAGREB, Sept 19 (Hina) - Parliament president Zlatko Tomcic set a
break in Thursday's session following a request by all benches for
consultations about the Hague war crimes tribunal's request for an
interview with Gen. Janko Bobetko in his capacity as defendant, and
that the prime minister arrive in the parliament to brief them about
the case. #L#
During the break, Tomcic will meet with the parliament presidency
and the benches' representatives regarding the resumption of the
session.
He announced a vote on a motion by the HDZ and HSLS benches to
include the "Bobetko case" on the agenda.
Vladimir Seks of the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) bench accused
PM Ivica Racan and his deputy Goran Granic of having incorrectly and
incompletely informed parliament and the public yesterday by
stating they had no information about criminal proceedings against
Bobetko.
The HDZ has reliable information that the government yesterday did
have data that charges were about to be pressed against the retired
general and an interview with him as defendant requested, said
Seks.
"Bobetko is a symbol of the Homeland War and we are protesting
against accusations against him based on commanding-objective
responsibility," Seks reiterated.
He said the Hague tribunal's request for an interview with the
general was contrary to the parliamentary Declaration which stated
the Homeland War had been a just liberation war, as well as to the
Constitutional Law on cooperation with the tribunal and the
tribunal's Statute.
Seks urged all benches to support HDZ's motion to have said
Constitutional Law changed to enable national courts to examine if
an indictment is based on valid evidence and if there is ground to
suspect that an individual has committed a crime.
Seks said the HDZ and HSLS (Social Liberals) benches today
requested that parliament bind the government to suspend the
passing of decisions with regard to the Hague tribunal's request
until the Constitutional Court established if the law on
cooperation with the UN tribunal was constitutional.
Tomcic read out a government statement on the "Bobetko case". He
told MPs that Deputy PM Granic had spoken to Bobetko last night, and
that the general expressly requested that the news about the
tribunal's request be not divulged in public.
After talking to PM Racan this morning, Bobetko agreed that the news
be revealed, Tomcic said, adding that apart from the interview
request, the government did not have any document about Bobetko's
status before the UN tribunal.
Seks said this made no sense, stating that no cooperation with the
tribunal or interviews could be conducted before the government
received an indictment.
Tomcic called this misinformation, recalling that Gen. Petar
Stipetic had been interviewed by Hague investigators without the
government having received an indictment against him.
(hina) ha