ZAGREB, Sept 13 (Hina) - The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague did not request the apprehension of Ivan Andabak but it did ask the Croatian government to facilitate an interview with him,
Paul Risley, spokesman for the ICTY Prosecution, told Hina in a phone interview on Wednesday.
ZAGREB, Sept 13 (Hina) - The International Criminal Tribunal for
the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague did not request the
apprehension of Ivan Andabak but it did ask the Croatian government
to facilitate an interview with him, Paul Risley, spokesman for the
ICTY Prosecution, told Hina in a phone interview on Wednesday. #L#
Andabak, arrested yesterday by Croatian police, was questioned by
ICTY officials on the same day, Risley said.
Asked what Andabak was interviewed about, Risley said he had no
information on that. He confirmed that the ICTY had not issued an
indictment against Andabak.
According to Risley, the ICTY wanted to interview Andabak, the
Croatian government was asked to assist, and it did so.
According to Reuters, Risley said at today's news conference in The
Hague that Andabak had known that the tribunal was interested in
interviewing him but had failed to comply with the tribunal's
summons.
Andabak was arrested in Karlovac, within a broader operation
conducted by Croatian police in several towns.
Commenting on the arrest of a dozen other persons, Risley said the
tribunal was informed about their apprehension and could be
interested in some of them, including Ignac Kostroman.
General Ivan Andabak was a close associate of Mladen Naletilic Tuta
and deputy commander of his Convicts' Battalion. Last year Andabak
was mentioned at the time when Naletilic was undergoing medical
treatment at a Zagreb hospital and when he and a group of 50 former
members of the Convicts' Battalion were allegedly planning to
kidnap Tuta and prevent his extradition to the tribunal.
Naletilic was accused of war crime in Bosnia-Herzegovina and is
awaiting trial at the ICTY detention centre.
Brigadier Ignac Kostroman, who was arrested yesterday in Knin, had
been in charge of information and political activities at the
defence ministry of the then Croat community of Herzeg-Bosnia
during the Croat-Muslim war. He was a close associate of one of
Herzeg-Bosnia's political leaders, Dario Kordic, who is being
tried before the ICTY.
(hina) jn rml