ZAGREB, Sept 26 (Hina) - "I dread Mesic's testimony in The Hague because it will put into question everything the Croat people did in the Homeland War," the leader of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), Anto Djapic, said on
Thursday.
ZAGREB, Sept 26 (Hina) - "I dread Mesic's testimony in The Hague
because it will put into question everything the Croat people did in
the Homeland War," the leader of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP),
Anto Djapic, said on Thursday. #L#
Djapic said at a news conference that Mesic's Wednesday address to
the nation was "traitorous and radically opposed to the
government's stands".
The party believes that Mesic's speech makes the government's
position in the current legal dispute with The Hague more
difficult.
Comments by the ruling coalition parties on Mesic's address are an
attempt to alleviate the damage the President has done to the
government, Djapic said.
President Mesic and Prime Minister Ivica Racan are in a
constitutional conflict because under the Constitution they are to
define the country's foreign policy together, Djapic said.
What President Mesic said about "the Bobetko case" and relations
with The Hague yesterday does not suit a head of state, Djapic
said.
It is inadmissible, the party believes, to compare Bobetko's
responsibility with that of war criminal Slobodan Milosevic.
This comparison is "an act by the tribunal's spokesperson and the
continuation of Mesic's arrangement with The Hague dating back to
his first testimony in The Hague".
Djapic believes that one can also speak about Mesic's political and
command responsibility because at the time war crimes were
committed he was parliament president (1993) and, for some time,
premier-designate.
"Mesic must have known about the crimes in the Medak Pocket and
Paulin Dvor," Djapic said.
The HSP is sceptical about proposals by some parliamentary parties
that parliament initiate a procedure to establish President
Mesic's responsibility because it believes this would cause
another crisis in the country.
"President Mesic is an irrelevant factor and luckily he does not
have the powers which President Tudjman had," Djapic said.
The HSP believes that the government should be supported because it
has managed to cope well with the tribunal so far and has not handed
over any indictee.
The HSP believes that after the legal battle with the Hague the
government will have to enter a political battle with the tribunal
and that the issue of relationship with the tribunal would
eventually have to be solved in a referendum.
(hina) rml