ZAGREB, May 6 (Hina) - Spokeswoman for the Croatian Justice Ministry has said that the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal has not and will not issue an indictment against retired general Mate Lausic.
ZAGREB, May 6 (Hina) - Spokeswoman for the Croatian Justice Ministry
has said that the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal has not and will
not issue an indictment against retired general Mate Lausic.#L#
"No indictment has been or will be issued against Mate Lausic by the
Hague tribunal," Vesna Dovranic was quoted by the Vecernji List as
saying.
The daily says in its Friday's issue that the spokeswoman based her
statement on "brief exchange of information" with the head of the
Justice Ministry's department for cooperation with international
criminal courts, Jaksa Muljacic.
The paper also interprets this as the official dismissal of rumours
that yet another retired Croatian general became a suspect after he
received summons for an interview with investigators of the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
The daily quoted assessments of legal experts close to the government
that Lausic was summoned to a two-day interview with ICTY
investigators within their efforts to collect information, documents
and witnesses' statements pertaining to the Medak Pocket operation and
the Storm operation.
On Thursday a few dailies claimed that Mate Lausic was summoned for an
interview with the tribunal's investigators as a suspect. Justice
Minister Vesna Skare Ozbolt later in the day neither confirmed nor
denied that the ICTY Prosecution had requested to interview former
commander of the Croatian Army Military Police Mato Lausic and
Interior Ministry Special Police Unit commander Zdravko Janic as
suspects.
"I cannot confirm whether they are the two people concerned," the
minister said briefly .
Declining to reveal the names of the people the ICTY wants to
interview and in what capacity, Skare Ozbolt said "two weeks ago it
was known that new requests for interviews with ICTY investigators
would arrive".
"Requests from and contacts with the ICTY are daily and regular and
there is no need to talk or inform the public about them," the
minister said.
(Hina) ms