THE HAGUE, April 1 (Hina) - The Hague war crimes tribunal will soon decide whether to grant the defence's request that Croatian generals Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac be released pending trial, Judge Carmel Agius said on Thursday
after hearing the arguments of the defence and the prosecution.
THE HAGUE, April 1 (Hina) - The Hague war crimes tribunal will soon
decide whether to grant the defence's request that Croatian generals
Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac be released pending trial, Judge Carmel
Agius said on Thursday after hearing the arguments of the defence and
the prosecution.#L#
During today's hearing the prosecution objected to the defence's
request, pointing to the possibility of the accused escaping or
influencing witnesses, but at the same time said it might change its
position if the accused agreed to an additional interview with
prosecutors while in the tribunal's custody.
Justice Minister Vesna Skare-Ozbolt relayed the Croatian government's
verbal guarantees that all terms for the provisional release of Cermak
and Markac would be honoured. She recalled that Croatia's relations
with the Hague tribunal were good and that the two generals had
surrendered voluntarily. She said the latest indictees would do the
same on Monday.
Chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte said the defence had not provided
enough arguments to back their claims that the accused, if released,
would not influence witnesses or attempt to escape, citing the "bad
example" of General Ante Gotovina.
She said the Croatian government could do nothing about Gotovina so it
was possible that if released, Markac and Cermak might disappear as
Gotovina did.
The prosecution said that Markac and Cermak, after being indicted, had
a bigger motive to influence witnesses, and that once they were
acquainted with the prosecution's evidence and witnesses they would be
able to contact and influence them by using their previous senior
posts in the government and the military.
Cermak's attorney Cedo Prodanovic and Markac's attorney Miroslav
Separovic said that all conditions had been met to release their
clients pending trial. They added Markac and Cermak would always be
available to appear before the tribunal, and that their past conduct
guaranteed that they would not influence witnesses, victims or
others.
The two attorneys objected to their clients being interviewed by the
prosecution, saying that would "deprive them of the only privilege
they have, to state their defence at the end of the trial".
Cermak said he was disappointed with the prosecution's position,
stressing that he had advocated cooperating with the tribunal and had
responded to every interview request. "You have my word that I will
appear before the tribunal whenever necessary. I am a man of honour
and have never had problems with the law."
Markac pledged he would answer every call from the tribunal, stressing
that he was innocent, could reply to any question, and did not intend
to influence witnesses.
(Hina) ha sb