THE HAGUE, March 23 (Hina) - Documents on the possible issuing of an indictment by the Hague Tribunal against three Croatian Generals do not represent the final opinion of the Chief Prosecutor, Louise Arbour. Their release by the New
York Times, regardless of the motive behind this act, would in no way force Ms. Arbour to change the way of her work, said her deputy, Graham Blewitt, in The Hague on Wednesday. It is important to understand that the documents are in no way final decisions by the Prosecutor, Blewitt told a news conference at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY). He added that Arbour would not pay heed to motives for revealing the documents in the American newspaper during her work on this case. She would do everything independently and objectively under the mandate she was given by the UN Security Council. She would not allow to be influenced or manipulated
THE HAGUE, March 23 (Hina) - Documents on the possible issuing of an
indictment by the Hague Tribunal against three Croatian Generals do
not represent the final opinion of the Chief Prosecutor, Louise
Arbour. Their release by the New York Times, regardless of the
motive behind this act, would in no way force Ms. Arbour to change
the way of her work, said her deputy, Graham Blewitt, in The Hague on
Wednesday.
It is important to understand that the documents are in no way final
decisions by the Prosecutor, Blewitt told a news conference at the
International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
He added that Arbour would not pay heed to motives for revealing the
documents in the American newspaper during her work on this case.
She would do everything independently and objectively under the
mandate she was given by the UN Security Council. She would not
allow to be influenced or manipulated from outside, he added.
Last Sunday, the New York Times reported that the Hague Court
prosecutors might issue indictments against three Croatian Army
generals - Ivan Cermak, Ante Gotovina and Mirko Norac - in the
coming weeks, charging them with acts committed during the 1995
Storm operation which liberated some Croatian areas under the
control of Serb rebels.
According to the article, they might be accused of ethnic
cleansing, the indiscriminate attacks at civilians and killing of
Serbs.
Blewit told reporters that the documents published by the New York
Times were old several months and were only the standpoints,
arguments and hypotheses of different workers within the
Prosecution's office. They were only a part of the investigative
procedures, he added.
It is up to the Prosecutor to decide finally on the substantiation
of any indictment. In case that available evidence is sufficient,
the Prosecutor submits indictments to the judge for confirmation,
he explained.
The public revelation of the aforementioned documents would not
influence the Prosecutor's decision whether to go on with the case
or when to issue any indictment, he stressed.
He conveyed Arbour's regret at the fact that the American newspaper
spoke about or quoted documents that might be confidential internal
documents of the office of the Prosecutor.
It has always been a policy of the Prosecutor's office never to
speak of the existence or of the course of any investigation and
never to publish or confirm that some persons are the matter of the
inquiry.
According to Blewitt, the persons in question would be
unnecessarily burdened with that. Therefore it is regrettable that
the article of the New York Times mentioned who was under the
investigation.
Blewitt confirmed that an internal investigation had been launched
within the ICTY in order to establish how the New York Times
provided documents from Arbour's office.
He also confirmed that following the publishing of the New York
Times article, Croatian Ambassador to the Netherlands, Jaksa
Muljacic, had talked with Arbour on Tuesday.
(hina) ms