ICTY STILL HAS NO ANSWER TO CROATIA'S PROPOSAL

THE HAGUE, Nov 10 (Hina) - The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia's Prosecution has not yet responded to Croatia's proposal on a joint Croatian-Prosecution's initiative for independent solving of a dispute about the Tribunal's jurisdiction over Croatia's military and police operations of "Storm" and "Flash", ICTY Prosecution spokesman Paul Risley said on Wednesday. Prosecutor Carla del Ponte is in New York today along with her deputy, Risley told a regular press conference held in The Hague. The Prosecutor has no reaction to this for the time being, Risley said and added that a letter of the Croatian Justice Minister had been forwarded to New York. Croatian Justice Minister Zvonimir Separovic on Monday forwarded a letter to the ICTY Prosecutor in which he expressed belief that ICTY judges would agree to discuss a dispute over the Tribunal's jurisdiction if Croatia, along with the Prosecutor's Office, forwarded a joint proposal for reaching a final decision by an independent court body. When asked to comment on the status of a proposal on temporarily release of defendants who turned themselves in, ICTY spokesman Jim Land said that the ICTY President believed that the proposal of the United Nations General Assembly's expert group should be seriously taken into consideration. (hina) it mm