THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Dec 20 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor with UN's war crimes tribunal in The Hague said on Wednesday there were difficulties in Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal, voicing discontent with a renewed politicisation
of the issue in the Croatian media.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Dec 20 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor with UN's war
crimes tribunal in The Hague said on Wednesday there were
difficulties in Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal, voicing
discontent with a renewed politicisation of the issue in the
Croatian media.#L#
According to a press release from her office, prosecutor Carla del
Ponte said at this year's last news conference there were still
difficulties in some segments of cooperation with Croatia, and that
she was disappointed the Croatian media had politicised the Zagreb-
The Hague cooperation issue once again.
According to del Ponte, Croatia's authorities may have their stance
on the tribunal's performance, which may be critical of her
priorities and what her office is doing. She stressed those were,
however, her own and not Croatia's decisions and that Croatia could
not make cooperation conditional on its acceptance of the
tribunal's investigations and processes.
Croatia's international obligations follow from the Statute of the
tribunal, the Security Council, and Article VII of the United
Nations Charter, she reminded.
Del Ponte said that should not be forgotten, or the situation
allowed to turn into a media debate. Open issues with Croatia have
to be settled eye to eye, she stressed.
The chief prosecutor said she was willing to resume dialogue next
year, hopeful it would eliminate the difficulties.
She believes part of the reason why the Zagreb-The Hague
cooperation issue has come to the fore again is the termination of
the Dario Kordic trial.
The tribunal's prosecutor's office last Friday requested a life
sentence verdict for Kordic and Mario Cerkez, Bosnian Croats
accused of war crimes in Central Bosnia.
Del Ponte added some documents requested of Croatia had reached the
tribunal too late, which prevented the prosecution from taking them
into consideration.
Some of those documents played a key role, while others arrived too
late and were insufficiently corroborated by witness statements,
preventing the judges from using them as evidence, she said.
Speaking on next year's trials, the chief prosecutor mentioned that
of Momcilo Krajisnik, saying it would be the first case to focus on
top Bosnian Serb officials.
Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic will not be deprived
of an expanded indictment for crimes in Croatia and Bosnia, she
said.
Del Ponte reiterated the current indictment was not representative
of the tribunal's entire focus on Milosevic. She said an
investigation into his implication in crimes in Croatia, Bosnia,
and other events in Kosovo was continuing, and that it was possible
the accusations would be expanded.
Del Ponte announced she would visit Belgrade in January, but only on
condition to be able to meet the new President, Vojislav
Kostunica.
With regard to mass grave exhumations in Croatia and Bosnia in the
new year, she said they would resume, albeit on a smaller scale.
This year, the tribunal examined eight locations, finding the
remains of about 500 victims, del Ponte concluded.
(hina) ha