BOBETKO INDICTMENT IS CONTRARY TO CROATIAN CONSTITUTION - EXTENDED

ZAGREB, Sept 20 (Hina) - Croatian Vice-Premier and head of the council for cooperation with the Hague-based international war crimes tribunal, Goran Granic, said on Friday night that he would propose to the government to proclaim the indictment against General Janko Bobetko as unconstitutional, and that Croatia should enter a legal dispute with the tribunal on whether the indictment was in line with the Croatian Constitution. #L# The suggestion is based on the fact that the first count of the indictment, on which it is based and from which everything else is derived, is in opposition to the task which the Croatian Constitution has given to the Armed Forces, and it is in opposition also to the Law on Defence which clearly states what is the obligation of the Armed Forces and General Bobetko, Granic said in Friday night's television news broadcast "Meridijan 16". Quoting the first count which read that "Janko Bobetko, acting individually and/or in concert with others, planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and abetted in the planning, preparation or execution of persecution of Serb civilians of the Medak Pocket on the racial, political or religious grounds," Granic said this count was in opposition to the tasks which the Croatian Constitution defined as tasks of the Armed Forces and gen. Bobetko. The obligation of the Armed Forces, as well as of General Bobetko, was to liberate the Medak Pocket from terrorists who continuously shelled Gospic from that area and destroyed property, and killed people," Granic said explaining that therefore it was General Bobetko's duty to ensure that the Medak Pocket operation be carried out. The Croatian government has to give its stand within next 72 hours on the Bobetko indictment, which was unsealed by the tribunal on the Friday night. In this context, Granic said the government was obliged to enforce the constitutional court on cooperation with the UN tribunal, and this law also stipulates what should be done in case when Zagreb receives an indictment like this one against retired Staff General Bobetko. According to Article 3 of that law, the government should analyse the indictment to check whether it was compiled in accordance with the statute and rules of procedure and establish whether it is in compliance of the Croatian Constitution or not, Granic said. Upon receiving the indictment, the government checked its formal validity, and a team of his experts also analysed simultaneously the contents, he added. On the basis of that expert analysis Granic decided that he would propose to the government that the indictment should be proclaimed as being not in compliance with the Croatian Constitution. Commenting on results of an opinion poll in which over 70 percent of respondents condemned the Bobetko indictment, the government official said they were expected. He added that the parliament and political parties shared a similar attitude. Asked what could happen if no political agreements could be reached and whether the country would have an early election about which foreign media were speculating, Granic responded that the government was serious and responsible in its work and that he could not see any reason for the political public not to support it in its decision that the Bobetko indictment be proclaimed unconstitutional and that Zagreb embark on a legal dispute with the tribunal. Asked whether sanctions would be imminent if Zagreb refused the indictment, Granic answered that Croatia had to cooperate with the tribunal as it was bound by law to it. "If legal institutions of the Croatian state are able to define this problem in legal terms and expound it, then sanctions cannot just like that be imposed," Granic said. (hina) lml ms