ZAGREB, July 27 (Hina) - "The Hague Tribunal has become a scene of major political conflicts. Gregory Kehoe, a prosecution attorney in the trial of general Tihomir Blaskic, has made serious political assessments which are
inappropriate for serious legal proceedings", Croatian Justice Minister Zvonimir Separovic said in a statement on Tuesday.
ZAGREB, July 27 (Hina) - "The Hague Tribunal has become a scene of
major political conflicts. Gregory Kehoe, a prosecution attorney
in the trial of general Tihomir Blaskic, has made serious political
assessments which are inappropriate for serious legal
proceedings", Croatian Justice Minister Zvonimir Separovic said in
a statement on Tuesday. #L#
"The Hague prosecution is becoming an instrument of political
pressure. Those who create that policy are most directly
interfering with internal affairs of the sovereign Croatia", the
statement read.
By placing responsibility with Croatia's state leadership the
prosecutor is attacking Croatia's legal order, Separovic said,
adding it was hard not to conclude that The Hague intended to
inflict damage on Zagreb ahead of the elections for the Croatian
National Parliament.
"When will it be clear in world politics and in the trial of general
Blaskic that the Croat people of Bosnia-Herzegovina had the right
to survival in the hard days of trial while the world was drawing
cantons and crossing out the Croat man and people in the other
country", Separovic said.
The justice minister also wondered about the reasons for maligning
President Tudjman and Croatia, assessing that "CNN and The Hague
Tribunal as well as critically disposed domestic and world
commentators are making every effort to prove Croatia's and
President Tudjman's guilt for the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina".
Concluding the statement, Separovic hoped The Hague Tribunal and
the trial chamber in the Blaskic case would "put things where they
belong, in the area of international humanitarian law".
(hina) rml