ZAGREB, March 26 (Hina) - The Croatian Armed Forces' headquarters chief-of-staff, General Petar Stipetic, as a suspect, will give a statement before ICTY investigators about alleged war crimes committed during the operation in the
pocket of Medak and the 1995 operations "Flash" and "Storm". The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) suspects General Stipetic of being liable, according to his commanding responsibility, for the said alleged war crimes. "I personally do not feel myself responsible and I maintain that I shall succeed in showing (it) to investigators .. that in areas where I was responsible and where I was the commander no acts were committed which may be treated as war crimes, genocide or the violation of the international law of war," Gen. Stipetic said on Saturday at a news conference held within a round table on the commanding responsibility in Trakoscan (
ZAGREB, March 26 (Hina) - The Croatian Armed Forces' headquarters
chief-of-staff, General Petar Stipetic, as a suspect, will give a
statement before ICTY investigators about alleged war crimes
committed during the operation in the pocket of Medak and the 1995
operations "Flash" and "Storm".
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) suspects General Stipetic of being liable, according to his
commanding responsibility, for the said alleged war crimes.
"I personally do not feel myself responsible and I maintain that I
shall succeed in showing (it) to investigators .. that in areas
where I was responsible and where I was the commander no acts were
committed which may be treated as war crimes, genocide or the
violation of the international law of war," Gen. Stipetic said on
Saturday at a news conference held within a round table on the
commanding responsibility in Trakoscan (northern Croatia).
Gen. Stipetic said the Croatian government's office in charge of
cooperation with the Hague-based ICTY exempted him from the duty to
keep military and state secrets in the field of activities he had
conducted and referring to obligation he had fulfilled. In
addition, he was allowed to use "some documentation".
Some Croatian media assert that all archives of the Defence
Ministry, including documents on political decisions, have been
available to Stipetic for a few months.
It is still not known what exactly Stipetic is going to tell ICTY
investigators, except what he has already announced and what refers
to the scope of his activities such as preparations and plans for
operations, commands and fulfilment of some military tasks.
(hina) sb ms