ZAGREB, July 16 (Hina) - During Monday's discussion in the Croatian parliament on cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the benches of the opposition parties assessed the control
mechanisms of the indictment should be specified in the amendments to a Constitutional law on cooperation with the ICTY, in order to avoid trials along the lines of objective commanding responsibility. Commenting on a remark by Justice Minister Stjepan Ivanisevic that the Constitutional law on cooperation with the ICTY must be adjusted to the Hague Statute, Vladimir Seks, on behalf of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) bench, stressed he understood that Croatia alone could not make changes to the Hague Statute, but it could control the constitutionality of the Hague indictments and their coordination with the Hague Statute. The HDZ therefore suggests that Croatian courts be enabled to carry out
ZAGREB, July 16 (Hina) - During Monday's discussion in the Croatian
parliament on cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the benches of the opposition
parties assessed the control mechanisms of the indictment should be
specified in the amendments to a Constitutional law on cooperation
with the ICTY, in order to avoid trials along the lines of objective
commanding responsibility.
Commenting on a remark by Justice Minister Stjepan Ivanisevic that
the Constitutional law on cooperation with the ICTY must be
adjusted to the Hague Statute, Vladimir Seks, on behalf of the
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) bench, stressed he understood that
Croatia alone could not make changes to the Hague Statute, but it
could control the constitutionality of the Hague indictments and
their coordination with the Hague Statute.
The HDZ therefore suggests that Croatian courts be enabled to carry
out the control. Should the courts establish that a Hague
indictment contains unacceptable political assessments, Croatia
could, according to the HDZ suggestion, refuse to hand over its
citizens on the basis of such an indictment. Seks believes the
interpretation of the indirect commanding responsibility was
crucial - when a Hague indictment is issued on the basis of an
assessment that the military commander could have been familiar
with the criminal act committed by his subordinate, without
presenting evidence to support such an assumption. That is why it is
necessary to include precise regulations in the Constitutional law
on cooperation with the ICTY, which will prevent the installation
of the collective responsibility in the Hague indictments.
The Security Council permanent members, such as the United States
and France, regulated this in a way which is not completely in
coordination with the Statute of the international criminal court.
I cannot see why Croatia could not do the same, said Seks.
Mato Arlovic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) bench opposed the
HDZ's conclusions, saying they were contrary to the Croatian
Constitution and the Hague Statute. The implementation of such
conclusions, he warned, could lead the international community to
believe Croatia refuses to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal.
Anto Kovacevic of the HSP/HKDU (the Croatian Party of Rights/the
Croatian Christian Democratic Union) bench said the parties must
reach a consensus on the issue whether the Hague Tribunal is a court
of justice or a political court. In his opinion, on the grounds of
the trials against Bosnian Croats it can be concluded that the ICTY
is a political court which does not insist on the individual
responsibility and the processing of aggression.
Mate Granic of the Democratic Centre said should Croatian fail to
cooperate with the ICTY, the United States would pressure Croatia
and the European Union would refuse to sign the already initialled
Stabilisation and Association Agreement.
On behalf of the Croatian Peasants Party, Petar Zitnik said
Croatia, as a full United Nations member, must respect institutions
of this international organisation.
(hina) np it