ZAGREB, Dec 30 (Hina) - The Hague Tribunal confirmed on Wednesday it +had forwarded to the Croatian Government an indictment against +Mladen Naletilic (alias Tuta) and Vinko Martinovic (alias Stela) +and a request for their
extradition.+ "As far as I know, the indictment was forwarded to the Croatian +Embassy in The Hague last week," the Tribunal spokesman Jim Landale +told Hina on the phone. + The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia +(ICTY) indicted Mladen Naletilic and Vinko Martinovic on December +22, for ethnic cleansing in the area under the control of the Croat +Defence Force (HVO) in 1993.+ Mladen Naletilic, 52, and Vinko Martinovic, 35, are being charged, +according to the principle of the individual responsibility and +responsibility as commanders, with a series of crimes such as +persecution on the political, racial and religious basis, illegal +acts
ZAGREB, Dec 30 (Hina) - The Hague Tribunal confirmed on Wednesday it
had forwarded to the Croatian Government an indictment against
Mladen Naletilic (alias Tuta) and Vinko Martinovic (alias Stela)
and a request for their extradition.
"As far as I know, the indictment was forwarded to the Croatian
Embassy in The Hague last week," the Tribunal spokesman Jim Landale
told Hina on the phone.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) indicted Mladen Naletilic and Vinko Martinovic on December
22, for ethnic cleansing in the area under the control of the Croat
Defence Force (HVO) in 1993.
Mladen Naletilic, 52, and Vinko Martinovic, 35, are being charged,
according to the principle of the individual responsibility and
responsibility as commanders, with a series of crimes such as
persecution on the political, racial and religious basis, illegal
acts of inhuman behaviour, murder, torture and the intentional
causing of great suffering, forcible expulsion and destruction and
plunder of property.
The request for their extradition along with the indictment had
been forwarded, Landale said.
Asked whether the Hague Tribunal has received any answer from the
Croatian Government to the request for the extradition, Landale
said he did not know whether any response had been given.
The head of the Croatian Government's office for the cooperation
with the Hague Tribunal, Snjezana Bagic, said in the Wednesday
issue of the Croatian daily "Vjesnik" that, in accordance with the
constitutional law on the cooperation with the ICTY, it would be
necessary to initiate proceedings for the extradition before a
competent county court.
"The competent county court is the one in the area of which the
person, whose extradition is requested, has permanent residence.
If they do not have place of residence in Croatia, or if there are
other important reasons, Croatia's Supreme Court will decide on a
local competent county court, at the request of the Croatian
Government. In this case, the Supreme Court is expected to take into
account that the men are now in custody of the Zagreb County Court,"
Bagic said in her statement.
Naletilic is currently being tried before the Zagreb County Court
and he is in detention.
This month, the Croatian judicial bodies sentenced Martinovic to
eight years in prison for murder with gain as a motive.
(hina) ms