ZAGREB, April 7 (Hina) - Luka Misetic, a lawyer of the retired general Ante Gotovina, has told Croatian Television (HTV) that the video footage of Gotovina at a meeting with military commanders in Knin on 6 August 1995 refutes
allegations in the indictment issued against his client by the UN war crimes tribunal accusing Gotovina of participating in a joint criminal enterprise with the aim of the forcible and permanent removal of the Serb population from the Knin area.
/zabava-Glasila/mediji
ZAGREB, April 7 (Hina) - Luka Misetic, a lawyer of the retired general
Ante Gotovina, has told Croatian Television (HTV) that the video
footage of Gotovina at a meeting with military commanders in Knin on 6
August 1995 refutes allegations in the indictment issued against his
client by the UN war crimes tribunal accusing Gotovina of
participating in a joint criminal enterprise with the aim of the
forcible and permanent removal of the Serb population from the Knin
area.#L#
The tape shows that Gotovina did not okay crimes, and that there was
no criminal enterprise, the lawyer Misetic was quoted by the HTV prime
time news programme as saying on Wednesday evening.
The Globus national weekly obtained the VHS footage, excerpts of which
were broadcast by the HTV and the commercial Nova TV on Tuesday and
Wednesday.
According to what was broadcast and transcripts of the recording
released by the weekly, it is evident that Gen. Gotovina at the said
meeting pointed the finger at competent commanders in the area of Knin
because of the chaos which occurred on the ground after the Storm
military and police operation.
According to Misetic, the lawyers of the fugitive general, who is
wanted by the ICTY, have known for the video tape, as participants in
the Knin meeting told them that the meeting was recorded. However,
those in the archives of the Defence Ministry told the lawyers that
the video cassette had disappeared.
Misetic told the HTV that he did not know from where the cassette had
appeared, and added that this tape was of great importance for
generals Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac, who recently turned themselves
to the ICTY after the UN court indicted them for war crimes, as well
as for Croatia.
The discovered tape was the main topic of news programmes broadcast by
the HTV and Nova TV on Wednesday evening. The HTV also showed another
video recording of the same meeting, made by a HTV cameraman who was
mobilised by the Croatian army at the time. This tape, according to
HTV explanation, was discovered shortly before Wednesday's political
show on the topic, and it has been stored in "the television's
basement" for nine years.
Another lawyer of Gotovina, Ivo Farcic was quoted in the same TV show
as saying that the ICTY indictment would have been significantly
different, if the prosecutors had had this material.
Farcic recalled that on the day when the said meeting was held in
Knin, a police station was set up, which implied that civilian
authorities had been also established. In addition, more than 4,600
criminal charges have been pressed by judicial bodies for various
crimes perpetrated in the area of Knin after the Storm Operation.
Justice Minister Vesna Skare Ozbolt told the HTV that she had not yet
seen the tapes and that she did not know how much they could help
General Gotovina.
She went on to say that the truth about the Homeland Defence War
should be shown to the tribunal as it was the UN court which would
decide and assess what had happened in Croatia.
(Hina) ms