ZAGREB, Sept 5 (Hina) - The Croatian government will most probably deny a request filed by the attorneys of a Hague war crimes tribunal indictee, General Ante Gotovina, that the documents on his case the government has forwarded to
the tribunal be made available to them, because the request is unfounded as long as Gotovina is on the run, a well-informed source close to the government said. Since Gotovina, a retired Croatian army general, is out of the reach of the Hague tribunal and the Croatian judiciary, the Hague tribunal does not recognise his defence letters of attorney and considers them useless, the source said. It recalled the tribunal applied such practice in the case of Radovan Karadzic, refusing cooperation with one of his attorneys as long as Karadzic is at large. This could be one of the reasons why the government could reject the request of Gotovina's defence team, said the source, who wished
ZAGREB, Sept 5 (Hina) - The Croatian government will most probably
deny a request filed by the attorneys of a Hague war crimes tribunal
indictee, General Ante Gotovina, that the documents on his case the
government has forwarded to the tribunal be made available to them,
because the request is unfounded as long as Gotovina is on the run, a
well-informed source close to the government said.
Since Gotovina, a retired Croatian army general, is out of the reach
of the Hague tribunal and the Croatian judiciary, the Hague
tribunal does not recognise his defence letters of attorney and
considers them useless, the source said. It recalled the tribunal
applied such practice in the case of Radovan Karadzic, refusing
cooperation with one of his attorneys as long as Karadzic is at
large.
This could be one of the reasons why the government could reject the
request of Gotovina's defence team, said the source, who wished to
remain anonymous.
Referring to a Law Practice Act provision under which documents
related to proceedings against somebody are made available to his
defence, Gotovina's defence team submitted such a request to First
Vice-Premier Goran Granic two days ago. The attorneys said they
needed the documents to prepare the defence. Granic said the
government would decide about the request by the end of the week.
The police still have no information about Gotovina having left the
country and therefore have not issued an international arrest
warrant, said Interior Ministry spokeswoman Zinka Bardic when
asked to comment on a claim in the Zagreb weekly Globus that
"indications about Gotovina's escape across the border are
becoming more and more serious."
However, an anonymous source close to the Interior Ministry has
said Gotovina is changing his hideouts and that the possibility
that he left Croatia despite tightened border control cannot be
ruled out entirely.
(hina) rml