ZAGREB, Sept 5 (Hina) - The Croatian Government on Tuesday confirmed it has received a subpoena requesting Croatian Armed Forces General Milivoj Petkovic to appear as witness before the Hague-based international war crimes tribunal in
the Cerkez-Kordic case. The subpoena arrived in mid-August and was forwarded to the Croatian Defence Ministry to hand to Petkovic, the Government's Public Relations Office told Hina Tuesday.
ZAGREB, Sept 5 (Hina) - The Croatian Government on Tuesday
confirmed it has received a subpoena requesting Croatian Armed
Forces General Milivoj Petkovic to appear as witness before the
Hague-based international war crimes tribunal in the Cerkez-Kordic
case.
The subpoena arrived in mid-August and was forwarded to the
Croatian Defence Ministry to hand to Petkovic, the Government's
Public Relations Office told Hina Tuesday. #L#
Attorney Mitko Naumovski told Hina in a telephone conversation from
The Hague Petkovic had been called on as witness in a case against
Naumovski's clients, former deputy president of Croat Community
Herzeg-Bosna, Dario Kordic, and former commanding officer of the
Vitez brigade, Mario Cerkez.
The indictment charges Kordic and Cerkez with the ethnically-
motivated prosecution of Muslims on the territory of the then
Herceg-Bosna (Kordic) and in the Vitez municipality (Cerkez).
In its latest issue the "Nacional" weekly ran an article saying the
subpoena for Petkovic had arrived from The Hague three months ago.
The weekly also states the former Croatian Defence Council (HVO)
Chief-of-Staff and current commander of the Ston military
district, General Milivoj Petkovic, had been called on as witness
at the end of the trial.
The trial against Kordic began last April and is coming to a close.
Pursuant to investigation procedures, Kordic's defence team stated
their defence, while the defence of Cerkez is underway.
The trial is expected to be completed by the end of this year or the
beginning of next year.
During the past several months a great number of documents have been
introduced to the tribunal's prosecutor's office and defence
counsel by the Croatian Government, Kordic's defence attorney
said.
Petkovic also took the witness stand in the trial against the former
commander of the Central Bosnia Operative Zone, Tihomir Blaskic,
who was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Last week's issue of Nacional had also mentioned Petkovic's name in
a text running a confidential police report according to which two
Croatian generals had allegedly been preparing Petkovic for false
testimony in the Blaskic case.
(hina) lml jn