MESIC: CROATIA MUST FULFIL ITS INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS

SARAJEVO, Sept 27 (Hina) - Croatia assumed the commitment to full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) when it adopted the Constitutional Law on the matter, and Croatia, as a serious and law-based country, wants to, can and must fulfil its commitments, Croatia's President Stjepan Mesic said in an interview with the Bosnian weekly "Slobodna Bosna". #L# Commenting on discussions in relation to the ICTY's indictment against the 83-year-old Croatian general, Janko Bobetko, Mesic said for Friday's issue of this paper that the fulfilment of the international obligations was a pre-requisite for the accomplishment of the country's strategic objectives such as the accession in the Euro-Atlantic integration process. The Croatian head of state reiterated that the Hague-based tribunal should have interviewed the former Croatian army chief-of-staff prior to issuing any indictment, as it had talked with the incumbent Croatian chief-of-staff, General Petar Stipetic. "Unfortunately some from the Croatian side committed crimes and those who perpetrated them should answer for it. I always reiterate that we need the individualisation of the guilt as to cease accusing on a collective basis, an the Hague-based tribunal, besides national courts, helps us in such efforts," Mesic said. He reiterated that everybody knew that the Homeland War was the defence war and that the Croatian Army only defended its country from an aggression launched by a part of the Serb minority, incited to rebellion and controlled by former Serbian and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Mesic confirmed that he would soon take the witness stand in the ongoing trial of Milosevic before the ICTY, and he repeated his assessment that this Serbian autocrat had tried to build a Greater Serbia on the ruins of the ex-Yugoslav federation. (hina) ms