ZAGREB, Sept 27 (Hina) - All parliamentary parties on Friday offered their support to the government's initiating a dispute with the Hague international war crimes tribunal regarding the indictment against retired Croatian General
Janko Bobetko. The ruling coalition, however, did not endorse demands by the Opposition that amendments should be made to the Constitutional Law on Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal nor that a referendum should be held regarding the issue.
ZAGREB, Sept 27 (Hina) - All parliamentary parties on Friday
offered their support to the government's initiating a dispute with
the Hague international war crimes tribunal regarding the
indictment against retired Croatian General Janko Bobetko. The
ruling coalition, however, did not endorse demands by the
Opposition that amendments should be made to the Constitutional Law
on Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal nor that a referendum should
be held regarding the issue. #L#
Parties were unanimous in their call to Croatian generals to stop
accusing each other via the media, and that the indictment against
General Bobetko must not bring the legitimacy of the Medak Pocket
military operation into question.
Amongst opposition parties calling for amendments to the
constitutional law on cooperation were the Croatian Democratic
Union (HDZ), Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), Croatian Bloc (HB) and
Democratic Centre (DC), while the Croatian Social Liberal Party
(HSLS) believes that options to that effect should be left open.
Ivo Sanader of the (HDZ) reminded that Croatia was one of the co-
founders of the Hague tribunal and therefore had every right to be
concerned about the validity and correctness of its work. He
proposed that a political judgement should be made whether a debate
should be initiated before the UN's Security Council concerning
Croatia and the war events. If the dispute with The Hague cannot be
resolved in any other way, the HDZ advocates that a referendum be
carried out in Croatia to decide on the matter, Sanader said.
The HDZ, HB, HSLS, and DC demanded that the government undertake the
same measures in the Bobetko case with the tribunal's indictments
against generals Ante Gotovina and Rahim Ademi.
The four parties' MPs criticised President Stjepan Mesic's address
to the nation, emphasising that his attitude regarding the
cooperation with The Hague was in opposition to the government's
stance, and had, therefore, weakened the position of the government
and Croatia's diplomacy in the legal dispute with the Hague
prosecution.
Joining objections by the Croatian National Party, Damir Kajin of
the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) objected to this theory,
stating that Mesic was not hampering the government's efforts but
rather Croatian generals "are chasing off each other to The Hague
and accusing each other via the media".
Kajin said that the tribunal's indictments were a sort of an attack
against the government run by Prime Minister Ivica Racan, even
though, Kajin said, this was not the Hague's intention.
"Croatia is not opposed to punishing war crimes, but The Hague
should know that indictments should be put together properly,"
Kajin said.
Drazen Budisa (HSLS) emphasised that Croatia's arguments before
the tribunal needed to be reinforced. He believes that the
government should not allow The Hague call it ridiculous.
He criticised the government because it had behaved differently in
two identical cases. A year ago the government claimed that nothing
could be done with the Hague's indictments against Ademi and
Gotovina and that the generals could only be defended in The Hague,
Budisa said.
He believes that at this moment it was most important to prove that
the indictment against Bobetko was in contradiction to UN Security
Council resolutions, rather than to the Croatian Constitution.
Mato Arlovic said that the SDP resolutely rejected claims that
Croatia wished to cease cooperation with The Hague because all we
want is to preserve our national interests on the basis of objective
laws and legal regulations.
SDP considers that crimes had to be punished regardless of who
committed them, but there is no objective responsibility that could
put a nation or country on the defendant stand, he said.
Jozo Rados speaking on behalf of Libra pointed out that the
government had affirmed its good cooperation with The Hague and
because of its position it could now tell The Hague, "time out". He
concluded that Bobetko would not have been accused had Croatia's
judiciary processed the perpetrators of crimes committed in the
Medak Pocket.
Luka Trconic of the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS) warned that a
great deal of political effort, wisdom and responsibility was
required on all levels so that the struggle for state interests
could succeed, particularly in the diplomatic field so that the
world would accept Croatia's stance.
(hina) lml sb