Zuzul had taken part in a UN Security Council session at which the tribunal's president and chief prosecutor, Theodor Meron and Carla del Ponte, informed the council that Gotovina remained the only obstacle to Croatia's full cooperation with the UN court.
The Gotovina issue is problematic for Croatia because it could complicate the European Council's adoption of a decision on the date of Croatia's EU admission talks. Full cooperation with the tribunal is one of the terms for the adoption. In a debate after Meron and del Ponte submitted their reports, Great Britain's representative underlined the importance of resolving the issue of fugitive indictees.
Zuzul told Hina he firmly believed Croatia would be given the entry talks date in December, despite today's reports and the Gotovina issue. He said this date would be late March 2005.
Commenting on the Meron and del Ponte reports, Zuzul underlined that they highlighted that Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal was good. He said it was important that both officials underlined the existence of the outstanding Gotovina issue, which he said would be resolved only when the fugitive general decided to appear in The Hague, the only place where his innocence or guilt could be proved.
In his address to the Security Council, Zuzul underlined that Croatia was aware of the importance of cooperation with the Hague tribunal and that it would continue to meet its commitments to the UN court to the best of its possibilities.
He said that in Gotovina's case, the Government was not trying to avoid its responsibility given that it had repeatedly appealed to the general to voluntarily surrender.
The minister also spoke of the state of affairs in 1990, saying that Croatia had been the victim of aggression committed by the then Yugoslav Army, which was controlled by Slobodan Milosevic. He added that sometimes the distinction between victim and aggressor was forgotten.
Zuzul said Croatia had no other choice than the right and obligation to defend its territory and citizens. He underlined that he did not want to imply that those who might have committed isolated crimes should go unpunished. He said that all who were proven guilty must be punished, regardless of nationality.
The minister recalled that this year Croatia extradited generals Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac to the Hague tribunal, ensured the transfer of six Bosnian Croats, and that Bosnian Croat Miroslav Bralo recently surrendered too.
Zuzul also said Croatia was investing effort in preparing its courts to take over cases from the Hague tribunal and hold professional and unbiased war crime trials. He recalled that since 1992, the Croatian judiciary processed 1,491 war crime cases, including that of General Mirko Norac, who was convicted to 12 years' imprisonment.