ZAGREB, Feb 23 (Hina) - New Croatian authorities and the International War Crimes Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) have established first informal contacts, and the Hague-based Tribunal's Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte can
visit Croatia not before April this year, said a spokesman for the Tribunal's Prosecution, Paul Risley, on Wednesday. The prosecutor del Ponte would like to visit Croatia as soon as possible but she is not likely to come before April, Risley told Hina on the phone. She is currently in Tanzania where there are the headquarters for the International Tribunal of war crimes committed in Rwanda. Risley said Croatia's Ambassador to the Netherlands, Jaksa Muljacic, last week had been in the Hague Tribunal, but the spokesman declined to say any more detail on the contents and participants in the first informal contacts. As far as Risley knows there have been no direct contacts
ZAGREB, Feb 23 (Hina) - New Croatian authorities and the
International War Crimes Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
have established first informal contacts, and the Hague-based
Tribunal's Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte can visit Croatia not
before April this year, said a spokesman for the Tribunal's
Prosecution, Paul Risley, on Wednesday.
The prosecutor del Ponte would like to visit Croatia as soon as
possible but she is not likely to come before April, Risley told
Hina on the phone. She is currently in Tanzania where there are the
headquarters for the International Tribunal of war crimes
committed in Rwanda.
Risley said Croatia's Ambassador to the Netherlands, Jaksa
Muljacic, last week had been in the Hague Tribunal, but the
spokesman declined to say any more detail on the contents and
participants in the first informal contacts.
As far as Risley knows there have been no direct contacts with
Croatia's Justice Ministry to date.
The recently-appointed Croatian Government should meet several
demands of the Hague Tribunal: to make possible for ICTY
investigators to probe into crimes committed during the 1995
"Flash" and "Storm" operations, when a large part of Croatia was
liberated from Serb rebel occupation, to produce documents on
crimes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina and to extradite Mladen
Naletilic Tuta and Ivica Rajic, accused of having committed
allegedly crimes during the Croat-Moslem conflict in Bosnia.
(hina) jn ms