THE HAGUE, May 6 (Hina) - Croatia does not agree with the Hague war crimes tribunal's political allegations against Croatian generals and will seek ways of challenging them through full cooperation with the tribunal, Croatian Foreign
Minister Miomir Zuzul told Hina in The Hague on Thursday ahead of talks with the tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, and president Theodor Meron.
THE HAGUE, May 6 (Hina) - Croatia does not agree with the Hague war
crimes tribunal's political allegations against Croatian generals and
will seek ways of challenging them through full cooperation with the
tribunal, Croatian Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul told Hina in The
Hague on Thursday ahead of talks with the tribunal's chief prosecutor,
Carla del Ponte, and president Theodor Meron.#L#
Zuzul said the talks would focus on the Croatian government's
determination to fully cooperate with the U.N. tribunal, the
protection of Croatia's interests and the defence of the truth about
the 1990s Homeland War.
Asked if the talks would address the fact that the Hague tribunal did
not allow generals Mladen Markac and Ivan Cermak to be provisionally
released pending trial before they were interviewed one more time, the
minister answered in the affirmative.
"We cannot contest (the tribunal's) right to ask for the interview
since that is part of procedure," he said.
"We will, however, once again state our position that these people,
who voluntarily surrendered and for whom the Croatian government has
given guarantees, as well as those from Bosnia-Herzegovina who also
have the Bosnian government's guarantees, are aware of their
responsibilities and I think they should be given the chance to be
provisionally released pending trial."
On Friday Zuzul is due to meet his Dutch counterpart, Bernard Bot.
Zuzul said the fact that the Netherlands had nearly finished the
ratification of Croatia's Stabilisation and Association Agreement with
the European Union "indicates the Netherlands' willingness to make a
new step in the good bilateral relations that were hampered only by
the issue of cooperation with the Hague tribunal".
"We will ask for the Netherlands' full support to our drawing closer
to the EU and NATO because it is one of the founders of both
organisations," Zuzul said, voicing confidence in the development of
good relations between the two countries.
(Hina) ha