LEGAL REP. SAYS INDICTED GENERAL SHOULD BE EXAMINED IN ZAGREB

ZAGREB, Oct 7 (Hina) - Retired General Janko Bobetko should be examined by independent experts in Croatia and they should evaluate if he is fit to travel to The Hague, the Croatian government's legal representative in the dispute with the UN war crimes tribunal over the Bobetko indictment said on Monday, adding that this would not constitute a precedent. #L# Goran Mikulicic spoke on Croatian Radio about an interview the Hague tribunal's chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte gave "Jutarnji list" daily today. She claimed the 83-year-old Bobetko had to appear before the tribunal's judges, who then might request a medical examination based on which, if his condition was bad, he might be let defend himself in freedom. In the interview, del Ponte said Bobetko should have the same treatment as all indictees, while Mikulicic claims an examination in Zagreb would not be a precedent. Mikulicic recalled that in the case of Bosnian Croat Zlatko Aleksovski independent experts had been engaged. They "arrived in Croatia and examined the documentation and Aleksovski himself, before his first appearance before the Tribunal," he said. Mikulicic sees no reason why Bobetko could not enter his plea by video-link. He said it was something that was "technically... feasible, allowed by procedure, it has been done several times with witnesses, and would now for the first time be done with a defendant." Mikulicic recalled the recent guilty plea entered by video-link by former Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic. In her interview with "Jutarnji list", del Ponte said that something like that had never been done, reiterating that the defendant must enter his plea in The Hague. (hina) ha