ZAGREB, Sept 20 (Hina) - The president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Ivo Sanader, said the party supported the government's decision to send back the indictment against General Janko Bobetko to the Hague-based tribunal, but
that it was not clear why it had done so.
ZAGREB, Sept 20 (Hina) - The president of the Croatian Democratic
Union (HDZ), Ivo Sanader, said the party supported the government's
decision to send back the indictment against General Janko Bobetko
to the Hague-based tribunal, but that it was not clear why it had
done so. #L#
"We hail the Croatian government's decision to return the
indictment against General Janko Bobetko to the Hague tribunal,
however, it is still not clear to us what the goal of its action is.
If the goal was to return the indictment for it to be finalised, then
that solves nothing," Sanader said after visiting General Bobetko
in his Zagreb home on Friday. He added that he did not know the
content of the indictment, nor did General Bobetko.
"If the indictment contains irregularities and should be
finalised, this solves nothing," Sanader said, reiterating the
HDZ's stance was that General Bobetko was a symbol of the Homeland
War and its hero.
"Croatia waged a defence war, the war did not take place on Serbian
territory, but in Croatia which was under attack. What was more
logical than to defend itself? The issue of General Bobetko who is
the most prominent participant of the Homeland War, is not only his
issue, it is not an issue of the HDZ, of which he is a prominent
member, but it is an issue of the future of the Croatian state,"
Sanader said.
The HDZ president called on all parties and associations to reach an
agreement about the "Bobetko case" and about cooperation with the
Hague tribunal, as well as how Croatia should handle itself.
He announced that his party would organise support rallies for
Bobetko from Dubrovnik, which he had defended, via his home town of
Sisak, in which he was a legend as a World War Two anti-Fascist,
through Split and Zagreb.
Sanader said the HDZ would next week move in parliament that a state
referendum be carried out asking citizens about the protection of
the dignity of the Homeland War and Croatian veterans.
If the parliamentary majority does not adopt the motion, the HDZ
would organise the signing of a petition, and after it gathers
400,000 signatures, the petition will be forwarded to the
parliament, he said.
Asked whether he connected the issuing of the indictment against
Bobetko with the fact that Croatia had not signed America's
initiative on the non-extradition of American citizens to the
recently-established International Criminal Court (ICC), Sanader
said that the HDZ had shown a high degree of understanding for the
American initiative.
"We understand that the Americans want to avoid what is happening to
us," Sanader said.
He also assessed that the Racan government had failed to resolve
principle issues, so one needed to explain to the international
community, which forgot events very quickly, that Croatia had been
brutally attacked in 1991.
(hina) lml sb