U.S. ATTORNEY COMMENTS ON INDICTMENTS AGAINST ADEMI AND GOTOVINA

WASHINGTON D.C., July 29 (Hina) - The issues of establishing responsibility for war crimes are very difficult for Croatia because the public believes the country was exclusively the victim of the aggression and war, said Stephanie Frease, legal advisor of the international justice coalition, a non-governmental organisation advocating the prosecution of war crimes. In an interview published in "Glas Amerike" on Sunday, Frease commented on the indictments issued against two Croatian Generals, Rahim Ademi and Ante Gotovina. War itself or a battle do not present the violation of the international law, but such treatment towards civilians does, she stressed, referring to the counts of the two indictments. Frease added the Croatian government was appropriately cooperating with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Those are difficult and challenging issues for every country and the Croatian public believes that the country was exclusively the victim of the war, It is, however, possible that crimes against Serb civilians had been committed, regardless of the aggression and occupation, the United States attorney stressed. Frease also commented on the reply of Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan to the two indictments. In his letter to ICTY chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte on June 18, Racan requested that the criterion for indicting any person be individual responsibility, and not commanding responsibility. Racan also stressed that "the text of the indictment against Gotovina indicates that it is exclusively based on commanding responsibility. Nowhere is General Gotovina's direct connection with a certain crime indicated, except for his function and place in the command chain". Frease quoted the ICTY Statute on individual responsibility of persons who planned, encouraged, commanded or executed crimes. (hina) it