ZAGREB, April 13 (Hina) - The following is the unofficial translation of the Declaration on the Cooperation of the Republic of Croatia with the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, as motioned by the
Government and adopted by the Croatian National Parliament's House of Representatives at Friday's session:
ZAGREB, April 13 (Hina) - The following is the unofficial
translation of the Declaration on the Cooperation of the Republic
of Croatia with the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia, as motioned by the Government and
adopted by the Croatian National Parliament's House of
Representatives at Friday's session: #L#
Declaration on the Cooperation of the Republic of Croatia with the
Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia
Pursuant to Article 20 of the Constitution and the rule of law as one
of the highest values of the constitutional order of the Republic of
Croatia, and expressing conviction that all perpetrators of crimes
must be punished, particularly those who had committed the gravest
crimes such as war crimes and grave breaches of humanitarian law,
convinced that it is the task of the International Criminal
Tribunal to establish the individual blame of war crimes
perpetrators,
believing that sincere cooperation with the International Criminal
Tribunal is of significant interest for the Republic of Croatia,
which thus confirms itself as a responsible subject of the
international community,
cooperating with the International Criminal Tribunal, which will
significantly contribute to political stability in the region, as
well as to the establishment and development of the international
legal order and the integration of the Republic of Croatia into
Euro-Atlantic associations,
assessing the Constitutional Law on the Cooperation of the Republic
of Croatia with the International Criminal Tribunal and the
Agreement on the Status of the Office of the Prosecution of the
International Criminal Tribunal as a normative frame for
cooperation,
establishing that great harm has been done to the credibility of the
legal system of the Republic of Croatia and direct state interests,
as well as that the country has been brought into international
isolation by the aggravation of cooperation with the International
Criminal Tribunal,
confident that relations with the Tribunal will be improved through
mutual cooperation and influence and the rule of law in the Republic
of Croatia secured,
the Croatian National Parliament's House of representatives at a
session of April 14, 2000, has adopted the following
Declaration on the Cooperation of the Republic of Croatia with the
Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia
A) Principle stances:
1. The Republic of Croatia holds that all perpetrators of war
crimes, committed in the area of the former Yugoslavia, should be
punished, notwithstanding their nationality, the troops they had
been active in and the duties they had performed.
2. Judicial organs will undertake all law-stipulated measures to
see war crime perpetrators discovered and appropriately punished.
3. Pursuant to provisions of the Constitutional Law on Cooperation
with the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague, and
provisions of the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal in
The Hague, the Republic of Croatia does not bring into question the
Tribunal's right to initiate proceedings of establishing liability
for war crimes committed during and immediately after the Homeland
War.
4. In the development of cooperation with the International
Criminal Tribunal in The Hague, the Republic of Croatia will
advocate appropriate cooperation relations in the criminal
prosecution and trials of war criminal indictees.
5. The Croatian National Parliament calls on the Government of the
Republic of Croatia to continue cooperation with the International
Criminal Tribunal in The Hague within the framework of the
Constitutional Law on Cooperation, which this Parliament House
adopted on April 19, 1996, in line with internationally assumed
commitments and conclusions of this Declaration, taking into
consideration the protection of national interests and dignity of
the Croatian people and Croatian State.
B) Concrete measures
1. To intensify the activities of Croatian judicial bodies in the
processing of disclosed war crimes;
2. To expedite the work on disclosing war crimes and their
perpetrators and on gathering evidence, not having to wait to be
spurred by the International Criminal Tribunal;
3. To commence talks with the International Criminal Tribunal
Prosecution and agree on a model by which information on war crimes
and their perpetrators will be exchanged;
4. To grant requests by the International Criminal Tribunal and
defendants' defence attorneys for the submission of copies of
documents as potentially relevant evidence in proceedings aimed at
establishing war crimes, which are kept in the archives of
Croatia's state bodies, taking into account the protection of
national interests and the interests of national security. All
documents must be simultaneously available to the Prosecution and
defence;
5. To offer to the International Criminal Tribunal's Prosecution
joint investigations, or investigative actions in which Croatian
and the Prosecution's investigative organs would take part;
6. To motion to the International Criminal Tribunal an agreement in
line with which the Tribunal would hand down some criminal
proceedings to Croatian courts;
7. To motion to the International Criminal Tribunal the signing of
an agreement by which Croatian citizens convicted of war crimes
would serve their sentences in Croatia's penitentiary facilities;
8. To insist that the International Criminal Tribunal in its work
ensure effectiveness in processing all committed war crimes in the
region of the former Yugoslavia;
9. To insist that all proceedings before the International Criminal
Tribunal be expedited, to warn on omissions and inconsistencies of
the Tribunal;
10. To review the practice hitherto of financing the defence of
defendants before the International Criminal Tribunal from
government budget resources and to make any possible future
payments transparent.
(hina) lml