ZAGREB, Feb 26 (Hina) - Expressing his knowledge relating to connections between former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and the Yugoslav Peoples' Army (JNA) and the leadership of rebelling Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina,
former head of the Croatian President's Office Hrvoje Sarinic on Wednesday ended his interview with UN war crimes tribunal's investigators.
ZAGREB, Feb 26 (Hina) - Expressing his knowledge relating to
connections between former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic
and the Yugoslav Peoples' Army (JNA) and the leadership of
rebelling Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, former head of
the Croatian President's Office Hrvoje Sarinic on Wednesday ended
his interview with UN war crimes tribunal's investigators. #L#
The talks were led on the subject of Milosevic and his ties to the
JNA as well as his ties to the leadership of the self-styled
Republika Srpska Krajina in Croatia and Republika Srpska in Bosnia,
as well as his role in the entire matter because he had always
negated any such connections, Sarinic said after his talks with the
ICTY representatives, which were held in the UN offices in Zagreb.
Milosevic always denied any connections and portrayed himself as a
peace-maker, and it is now at the tribunal which recognises only
hard facts to prove those ties, Sarinic told journalists following
his talks.
The former head of the office of the first Croatian President Franjo
Tudjman, who began his testimony on Monday, now is only speculating
whether he might be subpoenaed as a witness in the Croatian section
of the trial against Milosevic in The Hague.
Sarinic, being aware of the fact that Milosevic was well versed in
cross-examining witnesses, said that if he was to be subpoenaed he
would be faced with a huge task.
Several days prior to giving his testimony Sarinic said he was not
called as a suspect and so did not have an attorney present during
the talks. He, nevertheless, was not given any access to any
documents either.
He explained that as he did not hold any office in government at the
moment, he could not have access to such documents, but he was,
however, a little surprised that no-one in the government had
contacted him or offered him any legal advice.
"I did not require any assistance today but it would have been
proper for the government to have done so," he said.
Hrvoje Sarinic, who until 1998 was the chief of staff of President
Franjo Tudjman and one of his closest associates, was engaged in
negotiations during the Homeland War with Slobodan Milosevic who
today is a defendant at the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague,
Sarinic described that period in his book entitled "All my
Confidential Negotiations with Slobodan Milosevic 1993-1995".
(Hina) sp ms