ZAGREB, July 19 (Hina) - Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Goran Granic said on Saturday he had no information as to the possible liability of general Mirko Norac for "crimes possibly committed in Operation Storm".
ZAGREB, July 19 (Hina) - Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Goran
Granic said on Saturday he had no information as to the possible
liability of general Mirko Norac for "crimes possibly committed in
Operation Storm". #L#
Granic said Norac, who is serving a jail term in Rijeka, was not even
under investigation in connection with the 1995 military and police
operation which liberated parts of Croatian territory occupied by
Serb rebels.
Granic recalled that a 1994 United Nations report covering the
Medak Pocket operation mentioned Norac among those possibly
responsible for crimes committed in that operation.
If Norac testifies, this will benefit him and Croatia, and the same
goes for fugitive general Ante Gotovina, but the decision is up to
the Hague tribunal, Granic said.
Norac has agreed to an interview with investigators from the Hague
war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Granic is confident the Hague tribunal might turn over the Norac
case to domestic courts which, he said, had shown in recent years
they were capable of prosecuting war crimes cases, regardless of a
defendant's nationality or faith.
Granic expects that in the future, the domestic judiciary was going
to take on an increasing number of trials for war crimes committed
in Croatia.
The deputy PM, who spoke to reporters after a session of the Council
of Libra, his party, also said that war crimes committed in Vukovar
should be prosecuted in this eastern-most town.
(hina) ha