ZAGREB, July 7 (Hina) - Parties and associations from the Croatian Bloc on Saturday supported changes to the Constitutional Law on Cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) voicing their
opposition to the hand-over of Croatian soldiers to the tribunal, particularly on the basis of superior responsibility. The presidency of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) held an extraordinary session today requesting that the parliament on Tuesday open an urgent parliamentary debate on the content of the indictments against Croatian generals and threats of arrest as well as the content of ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte's meeting with Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan. Presenting this request, party president Ivo Sanader told reporters the HDZ requested the government not to make any decisions regarding the said indictments until the parliament completed the debate and t
ZAGREB, July 7 (Hina) - Parties and associations from the Croatian
Bloc on Saturday supported changes to the Constitutional Law on
Cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) voicing their opposition to the hand-over of
Croatian soldiers to the tribunal, particularly on the basis of
superior responsibility.
The presidency of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) held an
extraordinary session today requesting that the parliament on
Tuesday open an urgent parliamentary debate on the content of the
indictments against Croatian generals and threats of arrest as well
as the content of ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte's meeting
with Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan.
Presenting this request, party president Ivo Sanader told
reporters the HDZ requested the government not to make any
decisions regarding the said indictments until the parliament
completed the debate and took a stand.
The HDZ resolutely opposes requests for the hand-over and possible
arrest of Croatian officers and soldiers "which are based on
unreliable evidence, especially requests based on the anti-Croat
propaganda or the fabricated objective superior responsibility,"
Sanader said.
The party warns about the obligation to respect the Homeland War
Declaration adopted by the parliament and calls for a national
consensus on the preservation of fundamental state values and
interests.
Sanader recalled that the establishment of the Hague tribunal was
initiated by the countries which were the victims of the Great-
Serbian aggression whereas now, he says, it is obvious that the
equating of the victim and the aggressor is underway. Now that
Slobodan Milosevic has been handed over, an atmosphere is created
in which Croatia is also supposed to hand over its men, Sanader
said.
Sanader opposed the idea of Croatian officers being tried at the
Hague on the basis of generalised indictments based on the so-
called objective superior responsibility, as was the case in the
trials of generals Tihomir Blaskic and Dario Kordic. We are open for
talks about national interests, particularly about cooperation
with the ICTY, which requires a consensus, he added.
The Association for the Promotion of Croatian Identity and
Prosperity (HIP), headed by Miroslav Tudjman, urged the government
not to give in to pressures from the Hague and allow the hand-over of
wanted Croatian generals on the basis of "bizarre indictments,
because it would be responsible for far-reaching consequences such
giving in would most certainly have."
HIP is most decisively against the hand-over of any Croatian
soldier, war commander or high-ranking officer on the basis of the
fabricated commanding or so-called objective responsibility. In
this way, Croatian soldiers are charged according to political and
not legal criteria, which practically changes the character of the
Homeland War, erases the difference between the victim and the
aggressor, calls into question the national pride, dignity and
legal safety of Croatian citizens, the association says.
HIP called on parliamentary parties to reach a consensus on these
views.
The same stand was voiced by the Croatian Christian Democratic
Union (HKDU), which believes that Croatia needs a government of
national salvation. The central headquarters for the protection of
the dignity of the Homeland War issued a statement, signed by Mirko
Condic, in which it calls all parties and associations as well as
the Catholic Church "to raise their voice against the hand-over of
Croatian soldiers to the Hague tribunal thus showing to all that
Croatia will not agree to being equated with the aggressor.
Another association for the protection of Homeland War values,
HONOS, urged parliamentary parties to immediately launch an
initiative aimed at changing, in urgent parliamentary procedure,
the Constitutional Law on Cooperation with the ICTY thus preventing
the hand-over of any Croatian soldier, war commander or high-
ranking officer on the basis of the so-called objective
responsibility.
(hina) sb rml