ISSUING OF TRANSCRIPTS FROM PRESIDENT'S OFFICE HAD POLITICAL EFFECT SAYS MESIC

ZAGREB, Nov 28 (Hina) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic said in Zagreb Tuesday he would issue details of his testimony before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. Although I only listed through articles published in Split's daily Slobodna Dalmacija about my testifying before the Hague tribunal (on April 19, 1997), I believe the text correlates with what I had said. I do not know how they got hold of the text of my testimony, Mesic told Tuesday's news conference, adding he had been a protected witness in The Hague. He asserted he had not gone before the Tribunal on his own initiative, but at the request of the Tribunal itself, based on the Constitutional Law on Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal. In reply to questions by reporters, Mesic said the issuing of transcripts of talks held by the late president Franjo Tudjman in his office would cease when interest for them subsides. The transcripts are neither a military nor state secret, and their issuing has had a political effect, which showed that Croatia had not been functioning as a law-based state, he asserted. The transcripts have shown that decisions had been made where they should have not been made, Mesic stressed. The Interior Ministry, State Prosecutor's Office and other relevant institutions could found a team to look into the transcripts and establish whether there is basis for initiating proceedings. The transcripts themselves are no proof, only clues to possible perpetrators of illegal acts. It is up to bodies in authority to investigate the issue, Mesic asserted. (hina) lml jn