BRUSSELS, Feb 11 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor of the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Carla del Ponte, said in Brussels on Wednesday she believed that apart from some trips abroad, General Ante Gotovina was still
in Croatia.
BRUSSELS, Feb 11 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor of the U.N. war crimes
tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Carla del Ponte, said in Brussels
on Wednesday she believed that apart from some trips abroad, General
Ante Gotovina was still in Croatia.#L#
Del Ponte gave the statement when asked by reporters to comment on a
recent article in Le Monde, which said that Gotovina was in France.
She said she had read the article and was very surprised that Gotovina
was issued with a French passport in 2001, before he was indicted by
the tribunal.
She said that she had requested her political advisors to resolve the
issue in cooperation with the French authorities.
The tribunal knows that Gotovina was a member of the French Foreign
Legion and that he keeps in touch with his friends from the time he
was in the Legion, del Ponte said.
Fugitives of the war crimes tribunal are hiding in their own countries
because the risk of arrest in foreign countries is much higher, she
said.
Asked about an article in today's issue of The Guardian, del Ponte
dismissed claims that the United States and Great Britain were trying
to stop some of the tribunal's investigations by limiting her
authorities and increasing the judges' authorities with a UN Security
Council resolution, while the judges were blocking some of her
indictments in the anticipation of such a resolution.
Describing the article as entirely incorrect, she said she hoped that
the prosecution would wrap up all investigations by the end of 2004
and that all fugitives would be placed in the tribunal's custody by
that time.
(Hina) rml sb