ZAGREB, Sept 19 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan has confirmed the investigators of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) have so far conducted 26 interviews with former and incumbent state
officials and all interviews were coordinated in line with the protocol agreed upon by Croatia and the tribunal. Racan made this statement in parliament on Wednesday in response to a remark by Democratic Centre (DC) deputy Vesna Skare Ozbolt who said ICTY investigators were visiting former and current interior and defence ministry officials demanding interviews which were held at entirely inappropriate places. "No one notifies those people that ICTY investigators want to talk to them, which bears proof to the ignorant conduct of Croatian authorities to those cases," Skare Ozbolt said. If departures are made from the standard procedure on the conditions under which interviews are
ZAGREB, Sept 19 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan has
confirmed the investigators of the International Criminal Tribunal
for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) have so far conducted 26 interviews
with former and incumbent state officials and all interviews were
coordinated in line with the protocol agreed upon by Croatia and the
tribunal.
Racan made this statement in parliament on Wednesday in response to
a remark by Democratic Centre (DC) deputy Vesna Skare Ozbolt who
said ICTY investigators were visiting former and current interior
and defence ministry officials demanding interviews which were
held at entirely inappropriate places. "No one notifies those
people that ICTY investigators want to talk to them, which bears
proof to the ignorant conduct of Croatian authorities to those
cases," Skare Ozbolt said.
If departures are made from the standard procedure on the
conditions under which interviews are held, it is our duty to see
that the protocol is respected, Racan said.
Racan's first deputy Goran Granic said the DC deputy had presented a
series of untruths because the interviews had been announced.
The procedure is precisely defined - the Hague tribunal submits a
suggestion on who it wants to interview, competent ministries then
notify the people the tribunal wishes to interview and the
interview itself is conducted at a place chosen by the Government,
and is attended by a state representative, Granic said.
Interior Minister Sime Lucin said ICTY investigators had also
requested interviews with several Interior Ministry employees and
the Ministry had informed those employees of the requests.
However, MP Skare Ozbolt insisted that some officials had not been
informed about the interviews and promised to inform competent
officials about concrete cases "in person-to-person meetings" due
to the sensitivity of the issue.
She quoted today's issue of the Vecernji List daily as saying ICTY
investigators questioned a dozen former and current interior and
defence ministry employees about the military-police operations
"Flash" and "Storm" over the past few days.
The Government Office for Cooperation with the ICTY has confirmed
the interviews are part of regular activities and collection of
evidence by the tribunal's prosecution, the daily says.
(hina) rml