THE HAGUE, May 6 (Hina) - The Hague war crimes tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, has reiterated the prosecution will not object to the provisional release of Croatian generals Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac pending trial
after they have been interviewed, Croatian Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul said after talks with del Ponte in The Hague on Thursday.
THE HAGUE, May 6 (Hina) - The Hague war crimes tribunal's chief
prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, has reiterated the prosecution will not
object to the provisional release of Croatian generals Ivan Cermak and
Mladen Markac pending trial after they have been interviewed, Croatian
Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul said after talks with del Ponte in The
Hague on Thursday.#L#
He told reporters the interview could be expected to begin "soon", in
a few weeks' time, while when it would ended depended on the
prosecution.
"The most important thing is to arrive at the truth, since that's in
everybody's interest, and this will be best achieved by seriously
preparing the interview," Zuzul said.
The minister added the talks with del Ponte had addressed the entire
cooperation between Croatia and the Hague tribunal. He underlined he
was pleased the chief prosecutor had recognised Croatia's
determination to fully cooperate, as stated in the European
Commission's positive opinion on Croatia's European Union membership
application.
"I thanked the chief prosecutor for the objective assessment of the
cooperation, and conveyed the government's firm position that full
cooperation with the Hague tribunal should continue since for us
cooperating is a question of abiding by the law."
Zuzul stressed there was no other option for Croatia but "the
continuation of full cooperation".
"Our interest is that the truth be established and that those proven
guilty be punished, and those who are not guilty freed," the minister
said.
He added Croatia's state prosecutor Mladen Bajic had been present at
the talks discussing with del Ponte how Croatian courts were and would
be getting ready to take over indictments and prosecute war crimes
cases.
"Croatian courts are already preparing for that, but we want to
prepare also by cooperating with the Hague tribunal," Zuzul said.
Asked if there had been talk about the Hague tribunal prosecution's
arguments that the generals in the tribunal's custody might escape
after being provisionally released pending trial, Zuzul said no
mention had been made of this.
"This problem doesn't exist. The accused surrendered voluntarily.
Nobody had to arrest them or force them. Croatia has provided
guarantees that they will return when asked to," the minister said,
stressing that this referred to both Markac and Cermak and the six
Bosnian Croats if, when summoned back, they happened to be in
Croatia.
(Hina) ha