ZAGREB, Sept 26 (Hina) - The Parliamentary Committee on the Constitution, Rule Book and the Political System concluded on Thursday that assessing the constitutionality of the Hague indictment against General Janko Bobetko was within
the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court.
ZAGREB, Sept 26 (Hina) - The Parliamentary Committee on the
Constitution, Rule Book and the Political System concluded on
Thursday that assessing the constitutionality of the Hague
indictment against General Janko Bobetko was within the
jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court. #L#
"At the beginning of next week, after a parliamentary debate on the
Bobetko indictment, the government will ask the Constitutional
Court for its opinion," Deputy Prime Minister Goran Granic said
after the committee session.
The committee today supported the government's decision to enter a
legal dispute with the Hague tribunal regarding the Bobetko
indictment.
Attending the committee session, along with Deputy Prime Minister
Granic and Parliament President Zlatko Tomcic, were also
representatives of all parliamentary party benches.
All committee members, representatives of both the ruling
coalition and the Opposition, as well as legal experts were
unanimous in their support for the government to enter a legal
dispute with The Hague over the Bobetko indictment.
The indictment against Bobetko, it was said during the debate,
ignores the Constitution and the constitutional order of the
Republic of Croatia and brings into question the sovereignty of a
state and its obligation to protect its citizens from terrorism,
which is contrary to UN charters and Security Council resolutions.
It was stated that requesting the Constitutional Court's opinion on
the constitutionality of the Hague indictment could not be declared
unwillingness to cooperate with the tribunal because Croatia
remained in the sphere of legality without eliminating its
international obligations towards the tribunal.
Opposition representatives (the Social Liberals, the Democratic
Centre, the Croatian Democratic Union, the Croatian Party of Rights
and the Croatian Bloc) stated that the government should ask the
Constitutional Court to examine the constitutionality of the Hague
indictments against generals Ante Gotovina and Rahim Ademi as
well.
Opposition representatives requested Deputy Prime Minister Granic
to explain why the government was not acting the same with regard to
all three indictments, which they claim differ only in the number of
victims.
Granic explained that only with the Bobetko indictment "cumulative
conditions" had been met, because the indictee was a Croatian Armed
Forces Chief-of-Staff.
"The government is obliged to act equally towards all of its
citizens but it is only now that we can request that the
constitutionality of the indictment be investigated, and this
request refers to lower levels of command," Granic said.
The HDZ and the DC also urged assessing the constitutionality of
last night's address to the nation by President Stjepan Mesic, but
committee chairman Mato Arlovic dismissed the request, saying it
was not the subject of the session.
(hina) rml sb