ZAGREB, March 5 (Hina) - The team of lawyer of retired General Ante Gotovina on Wednesday denied claims made by Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Goran Granic who said that their client was not respecting Croatian institutions.
ZAGREB, March 5 (Hina) - The team of lawyer of retired General Ante
Gotovina on Wednesday denied claims made by Croatian Deputy Prime
Minister Goran Granic who said that their client was not respecting
Croatian institutions. #L#
"General Gotovina respects Croatian institutions but he cannot
respect the policies of the incumbent government," a press release
by the four-member team noted.
The attorneys believe that the government's policies are based on
violating all rights of Gotovina, who is wanted by the UN war crimes
tribunal (ICTY). They claim that they are being denied access to
documentation and that the Ivica Racan Cabinet is hiding evidence
from The Hague Tribunal that could free their client.
The team believes that the government is responsible for the latest
media insinuations that Gotovina's arrest is the only barrier to
Croatia's accession to the European Union as well as headlines
indicating that a reward was going to be offered for his arrest and
that a special police unit was being rounded up to track him down.
This, they said, is an attempt to gain support in the public and to
portray Gotovina as a criminal on the run.
On several occasions in the past few days, Goran Granic
commented in the media that Gotovina's running and hiding from the
Croatian judiciary and police showed that he did not respect
Croatian institutions.
Retired general Ante Gotovina was indicted by the ICTY in 2001 for
crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of
war during the 1995 Storm operation.
Since the unsealing of his indictment, Gotovina has been on the run
and an international search warrant has been issued for him.
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