BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 3776

BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 3776 BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 3776 HINA Zagreb 9 October 2000 MESIC ISSUES STATEMENT ON CROATIA-YUGOSLAVIA RELATIONS ZAGREB, Oct 9 (Hina) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic on Monday released a statement on Croatia's relations with neighbouring Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). Following is the unofficial translation of the statement: "The Republic of Croatia has expressed satisfaction with the results of FRY elections. We have congratulated President Kostunica on the electoral victory and voiced hope the course of events will confirm Yugoslavia's determination to not only subvert Milosevic's totalitarian regime, but to also condemn a failed, agressive and criminal policy, and effect changes aimed at the democratisation of society, the building of the rule of law and the respect of human rights. With this Yugoslavia, the Republic of Croatia is willing to constructively settle all open issues. "We expect that new, democratic Yugoslavia will condemn and take a clear distance from the expansionist, Greater Serbia policy of the previous regime, and explicitly acknowledge the facts. We in particular expect that the position of all other countries created on the territory of the former SFRY (Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) will be accepted - the position which has been accepted by the broadest international community - that FRY is one of the equal successors to the former Federation, with equal rights and obligations as the other four states (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia), with an equal share of the property, archives, rights, claims and debts of the former state, and with the same right of succession to international contracts and accession - under equal conditions - to international organisations. In these issues, not one successor state can have a preferential position or automatically acquired rights. "We likewise expect that new, democratic Yugoslavia will start acknowledging the significance and position of minorities in FRY, as well as the role of the Serb Montenegrin minority in neighbouring countries; starting, first of all, with the assumption that minorities can and must be an important element of cooperation among the states, and definitely not an excuse for territorial pretensions towards the neighbours. "We believe this Yugoslavia can approach a peaceful and just settling of relations between Serbia and Montenegro and the position of Kosovo and Vojvodina. Moreover, this future Yugoslavia can and must contribute to the political stabilisation and economic prosperity of integral and sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina. "Yugoslavia cannot avoid accountability for the war crimes committed by members of its armed forces and paramilitary units or other (Yugoslav) citizens. This guilt is not collective but always individual, and it is the state which has to bring the culprits to justice, (the state) must prosecute them, that is, extradite them to the Tribunal in The Hague at the Tribunal's request. "The Republic of Croatia understands the willingness of the international community to accept a new, democratic Yugoslavia, to gradually lift sanctions - primarily those affecting the widest strata of the population - and to extend assistance in overcoming the difficulties which have been inherited and in building a new society. We are willing to cooperate with this new Yugoslavia, in view of developing bilateral relations, as the strengthening of new, democratic, peace-loving and constructive Yugoslavia in regional projects might considerably advance the solving of a series of open issues. "Croatia bears in mind that international community assistance to new Yugoslavia will not be redirected from other, previously granted programmes of assistance to other countries in transition. At the same time, Croatia dismisses as frivolous and irrelevant all speculations about the revival or establishment of new supra-state entities in this territory. What is being created in the Balkans, in Southeast Europe and our entire continent is called a new, unified, democratic and progressive Europe, of which Croatia will be a full- right part. We hope new Yugoslavia will choose the same path. "Croatia is confident the upcoming Zagreb Summit, in late November, will be an opportunity to estimate the true character and real depth of the changes in Yugoslavia." CROATIAN PRIME MINISTER'S ENVOY MEETS KOSTUNICA ZAGREB, Oct 9 (Hina) - Croatian Assistant Foreign Minister Josko Paro visited Belgrade on Sunday, as an envoy of the prime minister, to meet the new Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, the government's Media and Public Relations Service said Monday. The main goal of the visit was to obtain direct information about events in Yugoslavia and the intentions of the new Yugoslav president. This first contact with Kostunica was assessed as good and useful, the statement said, stressing Prime Minister Ivica Racan held that the visit had been useful for assessing the situation in the country and for assuming better stances on the processes of normalisation between Croatia and Yugoslavia. The Croatian government hailed the recent electoral results in the neighbouring Yugoslavia, but said the prospect of future relations with this country would depend on the speed and quality of the normalisation process within it, especially on the dismissal of the crucial elements of the aggressive policy of Slobodan Milosevic's regime which brought on so much evil to the peoples of the former federation, as well as to the Serb people themselves, the statement said. The government will at Thursday's session define its views on the situation and perspectives of future relations with Yugoslavia, both bilateral relations and relations concerning the wider region, the statement said. DOS POSITIVELY ASSESSES CROATIAN ENVOY'S VISIT TO BELGRADE BELGRADE, Oct 9 (Hina) - One of the leaders of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) party, Zarko Korac, on Monday applauded the decision by Croatia's Prime Minister Ivica Racan to send an envoy, Assistant Foreign Minister Josip Paro, to Belgrade. He also expressed satisfaction with Croatia's support to changes in Serbia. In the wake of Paro's meeting with the newly-elected Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica the previous day and his own meeting with Paro, Korac told Hina Croatia's official policy "has a rational view of events in Serbia, despite some negative reactions in certain Croatian media". Pointing to the crucial role relations between Croatia and Serbia have for stability in Southeast Europe, Korac said yesterday's meeting with Paro confirmed the wish of both sides for "the normalisation of relations between the two countries to be initiated as soon as possible". Korac commented the fact that Belgrade media did not publish a statement on the Kostunica-Paro meeting as a lack of promptness from the Yugoslav President's Office, which is flooded by messages of congratulations from all over the world. TOMCIC SAYS KOSTUNICA HAS TO APOLOGISE TO CROATS TROGIR, Oct 9 (Hina) - Parliamentary speaker Zlatko Tomcic on Monday evening spoke to reporters about Croatia's relations with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. "The relations between... Croatia and... Yugoslavia depend on whether Slobodan Milosevic is going to (the war crimes tribunal in) The Hague and an apology from Yugoslavia's new president, Vojislav Kostunica, who has to apologise to the Croats for everything the Serbs did in the aggression on Croatia," Tomcic said in the central Adriatic port of Trogir. He expects "the international community will respect the procedure for Yugoslavia's access to European integration, as the one imposed to other states." Tomcic views the lifting of the embargo on oil and commercial flights for Serbia as the international community's message to Serbia's new authorities that the rest of the embargo will be lifted in line with their conduct and cooperation with the international community. ARRESTED BELI MANASTIR SERBS INTERVIEWED IN OSIJEK COUNTY COURT OSIJEK, Oct 9 (Hina) - The investigating judge of the county court in the eastern town of Osijek on Monday interviewed seven of 14 arrested Serbs from Beli Manastir who are charged with war crimes against civilians committed in the region of Baranja. The other suspects will be interviewed on Tuesday morning, Judge Mladen Filipovic said. Twelve Serbs were arrested last Friday, and another two on Saturday. Judge Filipovic said some defence attorneys had already appealed the 30-day detention for the suspects, and that 9 a.m. on Tuesday was the deadline for appealing. Domagoj Resetar, defence attorney for five suspects, said those interviewed today had pleaded not guilty and that they expected to be allowed out on pretrial release. All 14 were arrested under a 19 January 1995 decision to put them under detention. Their names are on a list of 121 suspects for war crimes committed in the eastern-most region of Baranja. Unlike the others from the list, who are unavailable to Croatian judicial bodies, they stayed to live in Beli Manastir, Baranja, were they were arrested, during last decade's Serb aggression and after the region was reintegrated with the rest of Croatia. "Part of the suspects knew they were under investigation and came to us for help two years ago," said Resetar, adding it remained to be examined why the Croatian judiciary had done nothing until now. "If they were guilty, they would have fled Croatia like the rest of the war crimes suspects from the list," the attorney said. SERB FROM BELI MANASTIR RELEASED AFTER TODAY'S ARREST OSIJEK, Oct 9 (Hina) - A Serb from Beli Manastir, arrested today as a suspect in war crimes against Croats, was released in the evening hours after being interrogated by the county court investigating judge in Osijek, eastern Croatia. Investigating Judge Mladen Filipovic said it had been established after today's interrogation that Tomislav Stojanovic's indictment for war crimes against civilians had been changed in 1997 to one charging him with armed rebellion, in the wake of which he was amnestied. SERB MINORITY REPS. SEE BARANJA GROUP ARREST AS POLITICAL PRESSURE VUKOVAR, Oct 9 (Hina) - Political representatives of the Croatian Serb minority deem that the apprehension of 14 Croatian citizens of Serb nationality, suspected of having committed war crimes against Croatian civilians, was politically motivated, and are requesting their release. The president of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) and appointed MP to the House of Counties, Vojislav Stanimirovic, and the president of the Joint Council of Municipalities (ZVO) Milos Vojnovic on Monday forwarded a letter to Croatian President Stipe Mesic and Prime Minister Ivica Racan in the wake of the arrests. In the letter they claim the arrests violated agreements with the UN transitional administration in eastern Slavonia and representatives of the current government. "During the UN transitional administration in the Croatian Danubian area it had been agreed that there would be no further prosecutions nor new lists of war crimes suspects without the consent of The Hague-based war crimes tribunal, except the official published list of 25 persons from the 'Sodolovci group'," the letter said. Stanimirovic and Vojnovic recalled that Croatian Fisrt Deputy Prime Minister Goran Granic and Justice and Interior Ministers Stjepan Ivanisevic and Sime Lucin had given guarantees that there would be no apprehensions without the previous examination of criminal acts, facts and evidence. Since the agreements have been breached, "we are forced to conclude that political pressure still plays a dominant role in the Croatian judiciary, instead of law, objectivity and independence." "This is actually the continuation of a process whose aim is the further dislocation and removal of Serbs from this area, the final result of which will include elements of ethnic cleansing," the letter concludes. Stanimirovic and Vojnovic requested that the members of the so- called Baranja group be released from custody, and that the war crimes cases be restored to the "sphere of reached agreements". They expressed regret that the "Article 11 Commission (of the Erdut Agreement) and the Mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Croatia showed decreasing interest for the realisation of the Erdut Agreement and respect for agreements reached during the UN transitional administration of Croatia's Danube River Region." The letter was also forwarded to the Croatian justice and internal affairs ministers, the OSCE Mission to Croatia, the UN Mission in Zagreb and the Article 11 Commission. The fourteen Serbs were arrested on Saturday and Monday on suspicion of having committed war crimes against Croat civilians in the eastern Croatian region of Baranja. This area of Croatia was occupied by the former Yugoslavia's federal army in 1991 and placed under control of Croatian Serb rebels. The area was later placed under UN administration, whose mandate expired on 15 January 1998, thus completing the peaceful reintegration of the Danubian area into the Croatian system. NEW WITNESSES FOR PROSECUTION TESTIFY IN GOSPIC ARRESTEES CASE RIJEKA, Oct 9 (Hina) - An investigating judge with the county court in Rijeka on Monday interrogated another two witnesses for the prosecution in the pretrial investigation of Tihomir Oreskovic and another four residents of Gospic charged with war crimes committed against civilians in the Gospic area in 1991. According to the defence, today's testimony by a protected witness did not charge the suspects. The defence, however, was displeased with the method of interrogation, namely the use of audio-visual aids, the distortion of image and voice. The identity of protected witnesses should be kept secret only to the public, and definitely not to the defence, attorney Zeljko Dumancic said. The other witness interrogated today was Mirko Kasumovic, former head of the Service for the Protection of the Constitutional Order's office in Gospic and currently deputy head of the Lika-Senj County police. He refused the protected witness treatment. The defence said his testimony charged the defendants to a certain degree, not in the sense the prosecution would have wanted, but still to the dissatisfaction of the defence. Rijeka's deputy state prosecutor Doris Hrast, who represents the prosecution, said the testimonies given by witnesses interrogated thus far to a certain degree played in the hands of the prosecution. He said the testimony which displeased the defence was concrete as it came from an eyewitness to some events from mid-October 1991. The prosecution will propose interrogating another 15-20 new witnesses, most probably starting tomorrow, said Hrast. The pretrial investigation of Tihomir Oreskovic and other Gospic residents in connection with war crimes against civilians resumes on Tuesday, with the interrogation of a witness who was to testify last week. PEOPLE CALLING IN TO REPORT ALLEGED PAST CRIMES AGAINST SERB CIVILIANS ZAGREB, Oct 9 (Hina) - Several persons claiming to have been eyewitnesses to the killing of Serb civilians in 1991 near Marino Selo, western Slavonia, have called the Pozega County State Attorney's Office expressing readiness to testify, Pozega State Attorney Rudolf Macek told Hina Monday. People began calling after recent media reports on the reopening of the "Pakracka poljana" case connected with the disappearance and killing of Serb civilians near Marino Selo, Macek said, stressing he had received indictments connected with the case at the beginning of the summer from colleagues in Bjelovar. Macek said that due to many unclear points, concrete measures had still not been initiated, but the State Attorney's Office and police "are working intensively on the case". "We do not wish to give out information until we establish the basic elements of the charges, such as the exact location of the crime, the number of victims, etc." Macek asserted. The case was reopened after a statement by Justice Minister Stjepan Ivanisevic that the case was being looked in again. Deputy State Attorney Slavko Zadnik said the minister at the time was "probably thinking about" the case of Serb civilians killed in a camp near Marino Selo in 1991, after which the bodies were dumped in a fish-farm. BILDT'S INITIATIVE SHOULD NOT BE UNDERESTIMATED -- MATE GRANIC ZAGREB, Oct 9 (Hina) - The initiative by special UN envoy for the Balkans, Carl Bildt, on a regional approach to countries of Southeast Europe should not be overestimated, nor underestimated, the president of the Democratic Centre (DC) party and former foreign minister, Mate Granic, told Monday's news conference. Granic holds that Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica does not have to apologise to the Croatian people for last decade's aggression in order to be able to attend the upcoming Zagreb Summit, because the meeting is going to be multinational. Kostunica should offer apologies if he pays a visit to Croatia, Granic said. Bildt's initiative envisages the stabilisation and equalising of the situation in the region, followed by the inclusion of the entire region into European associations. Croatia, Granic stressed, should advocate regional cooperation, but also EU's individual approach for certain countries in the region. Although Bildt's initiative is an unofficial one, it has been submitted to UN Security Council member-countries and might influence the shaping of the international community's final policy towards Croatia, Granic said, reiterating that representatives of the Croatian government and diplomatic circles should voice their opinion about it. Granic informed the Croatian public about the document last Friday and called on government representatives to take a stance. Granic holds that Belgrade and other countries in the region would be happy with Bildt's model of regional accession to European associations, but its adoption would mostly depend on Croatia. DC vice-president Vesna Skare Ozbolt said the party's parliament bench had requested that parliament's foreign affairs committee convene to discuss the situation in the region, initiatives such as Bildt's and the upcoming Zagreb Summit which is to gather countries of the European Union and the so-called western Balkans. THIS BULLETIN INCLUDES ITEMS RELEASED BY 22.30 HRS ON MONDAY