JUSTICE MINISTER: DEL PONTE EXPLICITLY DENIES SECRET INDICTMENTS

ZAGREB, April 12 (Hina) - Croatia's Justice Minister Stjepan Ivanisevic said in Zagreb on Wednesday The Hague war crimes tribunal chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte recently denied the existence of secret indictments against members of the Croatian Army.#L# "I can testify that she explicitly denies that," the minister said responding to MPs' questions during parliament's Question Hour. Ivanisevic said he "explicitly asked" the chief prosecutor in front of a dozen persons whether there existed secret indictments for anyone in Croatia in connection with war crimes, and that del Ponte answered in the negative. The justice minister said del Ponte told him an investigative team had been reorganised to carry out additional investigations into Serb war crimes committed in Vukovar and Dubrovnik. At The Hague war crimes tribunal's demand, the Croatian government has given permission for exhumations in the Gospic area, central Croatia, in the wake of suspicions that the area hides a mass grave containing bodies of Serb civilians killed in 1991. "It is a completely legal action," Minister Ivanisevic said, adding the government decision was in line with the Constitutional Law on Co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The Gospic exhumations will not be completed before parliament debates co-operation with The Hague tribunal, Ivanisevic said. Deputy Premier Goran Granic has announced the government will in that respect propose its declaration to parliament. (hina) ha