THE HAGUE, May 6 (Hina) - Croatia will relatively quickly and appropriately define its positions on the parts of the Hague war crimes tribunal's indictments against Croatian generals it feels do not stand, Foreign Minister Miomir
Zuzul said in The Hague on Thursday after talks with the tribunal's president, Theodor Meron.
THE HAGUE, May 6 (Hina) - Croatia will relatively quickly and
appropriately define its positions on the parts of the Hague war
crimes tribunal's indictments against Croatian generals it feels do
not stand, Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul said in The Hague on Thursday
after talks with the tribunal's president, Theodor Meron.#L#
"We will define our positions about the allegations in the indictments
and try to refute the parts we think don't stand, but in a way that
doesn't diminish the Croatian government's determination to continue
cooperating fully," he told reporters and added, "We are on the trail
of finding the optimal model".
Zuzul said he had thanked Meron and chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte
earlier today for their principled positions and positive report on
Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal, and voiced hope future
reports would be positive as well given Croatia's intention to
continue cooperating fully.
Zuzul added Croatia expected the report Meron would submit to the
Council of Europe tomorrow to be completely positive.
Asked how Croatia cooperated in connection with fugitive general Ante
Gotovina, the minister said cooperation could not be partial, it
either did or did not exist.
"The full cooperation refers to all cases. We want the truth to be
established and that those proven guilty be punished and those against
whom there is no evidence to be released."
He declined to speculate whether Croatian Army Military Police
commander Mate Lausic and Interior Ministry Special Police commander
Zdravko Janic had been summoned for interviews with the tribunal's
investigators as suspects, as some media reported today, saying he had
not been officially notified about it. He stressed that a number of
persons had been summoned to be interviewed as suspects but that this
did not indicate they would be indicted.
The Hague tribunal's spokesman, Jim Landale, said the talks with Zuzul
had been constructive and could point to the good development of
Croatia's relations with the tribunal.
Asked which form of reaction on Croatia's part to the indictments
would be the best, Landale told reporters the reactions could be both
verbal, during trial, and written. He said this was available to all
accused and that Croatia could voice its positions through the defence
attorney even before the trial.
Asked about the possibility of transferring some cases to Croatia for
prosecution, Landale recalled the Hague tribunal had always encouraged
national courts to launch war crimes trials.
He added, however, that it was too early to publicly talk about the
transfer of concrete cases to Croatian courts, which he said called
for the existence of all guarantees, the guaranteed protection of
witnesses and victims, and the full transparency and justness of
trials.
Zuzul's two-day trip to the Netherlands ends on Friday with a meeting
with his Dutch counterpart, Foreign Minister Bernard Bot.
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