$ ZAGREB, Sept 11 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Louise Arbour, has not been able to guarantee the defence attorneys of indicted central Bosnian Croats that their
trials will begin three months after their surrender at the latest, Zagreb's lawyer, Petar Pavkovic, told Hina on Thursday.
PROSECUTOR
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ZAGREB, Sept 11 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Louise Arbour, has not been
able to guarantee the defence attorneys of indicted central Bosnian Croats
that their trials will begin three months after their surrender at the latest,
Zagreb's lawyer, Petar Pavkovic, told Hina on Thursday. #L#
Eleven indicted Croats from Vitez (central Bosnia) expressed
readiness to voluntarily give themselves up to the Tribunal, provided that the
Tribunal guaranteed them a speedy trial which would begin three months
later at the latest.
Arbour, who had spoken with the Bosnian Croats' attorneys in Zagreb
on Wednesday evening, could give no guarantees, saying that she could
only speak on behalf of the Prosecutor's Office, not on behalf of ICTY.
She expressed conviction that trials could begin three to five months
after they have handed themselves over, but such guarantees were not
sufficient and surrender had not been agreed on, Pavkovic said.
Arbour "asked for surrender without guaranteeing anything," he
added.
Pavkovic said the trials could not begin within the time mentioned by
Arbour, keeping in mind that ICTY was not sufficiently equipped, neither with
people nor technically (only two first-degree councils, one courtroom), a s
well as experiences hitherto with the trials in The Hague.
"We could not accept that risk because we are obliged to protect the
interests of our clients," Pavkovic said.
Arbour had announced that more efforts would be invested in the
apprehension of indicted war crimes suspects, he added.
(hina) lm jn
111528 MET sep 97