ZAGREB, Jan 16 (Hina) - Monday's meeting between representatives of the government and the chief prosecutor with UN's war crimes tribunal in The Hague was important for Croatia as it precisely clarified how extensively the
prosecutor's office interprets Statute provisions regulating the issue of individual criminal accountability of commanders, a government source said. In prosecuting crimes committed in Croatia, the Hague tribunal will deal with the perpetrator's concrete accountability, said the source who wanted to remain anonymous, adding prosecuting objective command accountability without concrete accountability would be counter-productive. During her one-day visit to Zagreb, Hague tribunal chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte spent more than six hours talking to Prime Minister Ivica Racan, his deputy Goran Granic, and Justice Minister Stjepan Ivanisevic. The Croatian side reiterated during the talk
ZAGREB, Jan 16 (Hina) - Monday's meeting between representatives of
the government and the chief prosecutor with UN's war crimes
tribunal in The Hague was important for Croatia as it precisely
clarified how extensively the prosecutor's office interprets
Statute provisions regulating the issue of individual criminal
accountability of commanders, a government source said.
In prosecuting crimes committed in Croatia, the Hague tribunal will
deal with the perpetrator's concrete accountability, said the
source who wanted to remain anonymous, adding prosecuting
objective command accountability without concrete accountability
would be counter-productive.
During her one-day visit to Zagreb, Hague tribunal chief prosecutor
Carla del Ponte spent more than six hours talking to Prime Minister
Ivica Racan, his deputy Goran Granic, and Justice Minister Stjepan
Ivanisevic.
The Croatian side reiterated during the talks that it had never
questioned cooperation and the prosecution of war crimes, but
reacted to signs of attempts to criminalise the Homeland Defence
War, Croatia's early 1990s war of independence from the former
Yugoslav federation.
Del Ponte and Racan jointly told reporters that the Hague
prosecutor's office was only investigating crimes, without
questioning the legitimacy of Croatian military operations.
The government representatives acquainted the chief prosecutor
with a project envisaging the establishment of a Croatian war
crimes office, requesting to be given access to material collected
by tribunal investigators thus far, including that referring to an
investigation into crimes committed against Croatian Serbs in the
central town of Gospic in 1991.
The anonymous government source said del Ponte voiced readiness for
the two offices to establish cooperation.
First Deputy Prime Minister Goran Granic today informed military
chief-of-staff General Petar Stipetic about del Ponte's decision
to withdraw a summons for an interview with him, the source said.
The general is now willing to be interviewed by the prosecutor's
office, having "nothing to hide" and because he believes his
testimony can contribute to shedding light on the facts, the source
added.
The government is agreed that Stipetic should testify, the source
said, adding it had been agreed with del Ponte that an official
Croatian representative could be present.
Speaking about communication methods between active Croatian
military officers and the Hague's prosecutor's office, the
government source said the tribunal should first submit a request
stating the officer's name and the topics of the interview. The
competent minister then decides whether to relieve the officer of
the obligation to keep a secret, and finally the government's
Council for cooperation with the tribunal okays the interview.
(hina) ha sb