ZAGREB, Jan 12 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor of UN's international war crimes tribunal in The Hague is to arrive in Zagreb on Monday for a one-day visit during which she will hold talks with the prime minister and other government
officials on all aspects of Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal, a spokesperson said on Friday. The end of last year was marked by a renewed strain in Zagreb-Hague relations precipitated by the contradictory contents of two summons sent General Petar Stipetic, the Croatian military chief-of-staff, in which it was unclear if he was to be interviewed as witness or suspect. The Croatian government announced the January meeting with chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte would provide an opportunity to clarify the matter. Del Ponte's deputy Graham Blewitt exacerbated the issue in mid-December by stating Croatian authorities were familiar with the names of people the tribunal was
ZAGREB, Jan 12 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor of UN's international
war crimes tribunal in The Hague is to arrive in Zagreb on Monday for
a one-day visit during which she will hold talks with the prime
minister and other government officials on all aspects of Croatia's
cooperation with the tribunal, a spokesperson said on Friday.
The end of last year was marked by a renewed strain in Zagreb-Hague
relations precipitated by the contradictory contents of two
summons sent General Petar Stipetic, the Croatian military chief-
of-staff, in which it was unclear if he was to be interviewed as
witness or suspect.
The Croatian government announced the January meeting with chief
prosecutor Carla del Ponte would provide an opportunity to clarify
the matter.
Del Ponte's deputy Graham Blewitt exacerbated the issue in mid-
December by stating Croatian authorities were familiar with the
names of people the tribunal was investigating in connection with
crimes committed during Storm, Croatia's military operation of
1995 which liberated its territories until then occupied by Serb
rebels.
Blewitt also said the names the Croatian media had been mentioning
in the previous months coincided to a great degree with those in the
tribunal's investigation files. In keeping with prosecutor's
office practice he did not want to disclose them, but said in The
Hague an indictment for crimes committed during Storm was almost
complete.
Blewitt is not coming to Zagreb with del Ponte because he is on
holiday until the end of next week, the chief prosecutor's
spokeswoman Florence Hartmann told Hina on Friday.
The Zagreb-Hague relations escalated last November when del Ponte
before the UN Security Council criticised the obstructive activity
of Croatia's new authorities in connection with some key issues, to
which the Croatian government responded with guidelines on which
future cooperation would rely. In December, it released official
stances requesting that the tribunal investigate concrete crimes
and not the legitimate operations carried out by the armed forces,
that it do more in prosecuting crimes committed in Croatia by JNA,
ex-Yugoslavia's federal army, and that it communicate with state
officials only through the government.
The president of the government's council for cooperation with the
Hague tribunal, Goran Granic, assessed the conduct of the
prosecutor's office had assumed the form of dictate and political
manipulation, which Croatia could not accept.
Whereas the Hague prosecutor's office expects unreserved
compliance with its demands, Croatia's authorities believe the two
sides should discuss the matter and try to agree.
Asked to comment on the Croatian government's decision to close
access to transcripts from former President Franjo Tudjman's
office until 2031, Hartmann said del Ponte would assess during her
Zagreb visit if the decision would affect Zagreb-Hague relations.
Incumbent President Stipe Mesic will not meet del Ponte. He said
that under recent amendments to the Constitution, an obligation to
that effect was no longer within his competence.
Last year, the Hague prosecutor's office announced an impending
indictment for Storm-related crimes and one for other Croat
perpetrators in connection with crimes committed on Croatian
territory, Medacki dzep for instance, and others based on results
from investigations into crimes committed by Serb units in
Dubrovnik and eastern Slavonia in 1991.
(hina) ha