CROATIAN AMBASSADOR MEETS ICTY CHIEF PROSECUTOR

THE HAGUE, July 30 (Hina) - Croatia's Ambassador to the Netherlands, Jaksa Muljacic, on Friday handed to The Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Louise Arbour a letter from Croatian Justice Minister Zvonimir Separovic including a list of documents Croatia is willing to submit to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). #L# The documents, which should arrive in The Hague from Croatia on Saturday, represent 'a part of the material' which the ICTY Prosecution demanded in a new request issued four weeks ago, Muljacic said. "They do not include documents concerning Operation Storm", said Muljacic. Arbour stated this week in The Hague that she would request from the ICTY President Gabrielle Kirk McDonald to report Croatia's non-co- operation with the Tribunal. The prosecution demands from Croatia to hand over Vinko Martinovic Stela and Mladen Naletilic Tuta and turn over documents for an investigation into Operation Storm, the Medak pocket case and the Pakrac field case. The Tribunal has been demanding some of these documents since 1996. Croatia believes that The Hague Tribunal does not have the jurisdiction to investigate Operation Storm because it holds the operation to be a police operation and not a part of an armed conflict. A spokesman for the Tribunal, Jim Landale, confirmed Arbour's meeting with Croatia's ambassador, but declined to comment on the contents of the letter Muljacic submitted. During her visit to Zagreb last week, Arbour announced that she would withdraw her request on reporting Croatia's non-co-operation to the U.N. Security Council only if Zagreb turned over all requested documents and immediately handed over Tuta and Stela. "She indicated no change in that position", Landale said. Ambassador Mahecic also conveyed Croatia's position regarding the closing argument of the prosecution in the trial of the former commander of the Operative Zone Central Bosnia, Tihomir Blaskic, in which Croatian President Franjo Tudjman was accused of trying to, through the Croat Community of Herzeg-Bosnia, ethnically cleanse parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina and annex them. The Croatian Government on Thursday adopted a Statement in which it "resolutely dismisses claims made in the closing argument of The Hague Tribunal prosecutor in the trial of general Blaskic, saying that the Bosniak-Croat conflict in central Bosnia had elements of an international conflict and accusing the leadership of the Republic of Croatia, and literally the President of the Republic, of the most direct involvement in the conflict". (hina) rml.