ZAGREB, March 28 (Hina) - Croatia's Armed Forces headquarters' chief-of-staff, General Petar Stipetic, on Wednesday morning arrived in Zagreb's office of the Hague war crimes tribunal to continue giving his testimony before Hague
officials investigating crimes allegedly committed during the 'Flash' and 'Storm' operations and in the pocket of Medak (central Croatia). On Tuesday Stipetic was questioned by the investigators of the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia) from 10.30 am to 06.00 pm Tuesday. Reporters, who waited in front of Zagreb's ICTY headquarters during Stipetic's testimony yesterday, did not obtain any official information on the testimony either from the ICTY office or from the Croatian government's office for cooperation with the ICTY. Stipetic himself gave no statements, either. Nevertheless, reporters have continued to wait in front of the ICTY's
ZAGREB, March 28 (Hina) - Croatia's Armed Forces headquarters'
chief-of-staff, General Petar Stipetic, on Wednesday morning
arrived in Zagreb's office of the Hague war crimes tribunal to
continue giving his testimony before Hague officials investigating
crimes allegedly committed during the 'Flash' and 'Storm'
operations and in the pocket of Medak (central Croatia).
On Tuesday Stipetic was questioned by the investigators of the ICTY
(International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia) from
10.30 am to 06.00 pm Tuesday.
Reporters, who waited in front of Zagreb's ICTY headquarters during
Stipetic's testimony yesterday, did not obtain any official
information on the testimony either from the ICTY office or from the
Croatian government's office for cooperation with the ICTY.
Stipetic himself gave no statements, either. Nevertheless,
reporters have continued to wait in front of the ICTY's office in
Zagreb since this morning.
Last week Stipetic told reporters that he would testify before ICTY
investigators as a suspect in alleged war crimes committed in the
Medak Pocket and during the 1995 'Flash' and 'Storm' operations in
1995.
The speculations about Stipetic being treated as a suspect by the
ICTY appeared last August.
According to the available information, the ICTY investigators are
in particular interested in the circumstances of the Serb
civilians' casualties in 1993 and 1995.
In September 1993, entering the pocket of Medak, UN forces (that
were then deployed in some Croatian areas) found burnt houses and 18
corpses, and assessed that the scorched-earth tactics had been
implemented by the Croatian army while it liberated the area from
rebel Serbs.
In relation to the May 1995 "Flash" operation, ICTY officials are
believed to be most interested in the killing of civilians who were
moving on a road from Okucani to Gradiska on 1 and 2 May. As regards
the "Storm", they seem to be interested in an air strike on a
military and civilian column near Dvor Na Uni and other cases in
that area.
Stipetic is being questioned by the ICTY investigators, in presence
of Orsat Miiljenic, the head of the Croatian government's office in
charge of cooperation with the ICTY.
(hina) ms