HDZ IN UPPER HOUSE DEMANDS CHANGE IN ICTY DECLARATION

ZAGREB, April 17 (Hina) - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) bench in parliament's House of Counties, in which it has the majority, will demand that a declaration on cooperation with The Hague war crimes tribunal include a clause denying the tribunal jurisdiction over "Flash" and "Storm". "Flash" and "Storm" were military-police operations through which Croatia in 1995 liberated the largest part of its Serb-occupied territory. The demand refers to an HDZ amendment the House of Representatives turned down at Friday's session, which HDZ's MPs left ahead of voting on the declaration. The rest of the declaration, which the Lower House adopted last Friday, is acceptable, HDZ bench president Miroslav Prpic told reporters today. Prpic said the HDZ would motion that the declaration include the amendment by HDZ's bench in the Lower House, namely that possible individual crimes committed during "Flash" and "Storm" be under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Croatian judiciary, in view of the unambiguous legitimacy of the operations. The Upper House will debate Croatia's cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on Tuesday. (hina) ha jn