ZAPRESIC, Oct 7 (Hina) - President Stjepan Mesic has said that he advises General Ante Gotovina to "use this favourable opportunity for himself and appear before the Hague-based tribunal".
ZAPRESIC, Oct 7 (Hina) - President Stjepan Mesic has said that he
advises General Ante Gotovina to "use this favourable opportunity
for himself and appear before the Hague-based tribunal". #L#
"Whether he will talk with them (ICTY representatives) in Zagreb or
in The Hague is something he must agree with the tribunal," Mesic
told reporters in Zapresic (outside Zagreb) on Tuesday.
Yesterday Mesic and Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor of the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY),
held talks on the Gotovina case. This issue was also the main topic
of the meeting which Del Ponte, who was on a visit to Zagreb on
Monday, held with Premier Ivica Racan.
President Mesic believes that yesterday's talks succeeded in
clarifying the basic matter, namely that Croatian authorities do
not know where Gotovina is being hidden.
"In this sense, Carla Del Ponte received the complete information
and therefore I expect quite a different report which she is going
to submit," the Croatian head of state said.
On Thursday (October 9) Del Ponte will present her annual report to
the UN Security Council in which she will assess Croatia's
cooperation with the tribunal.
Mesic stressed that the ICTY Chief Prosecutor and Croatian
officials who spoke with her, sent a clear message that Gen.
Gotovina, who claims to be a Croatian patriot, should act in
accordance with his patriotism and "answer questions set by the
tribunal, and defend his and the Croatian army's honour, which he
could not do while in hiding."
Mesic also recalled that a few months ago the retired general gave
an interview to a Croatian weekly in which he said that he
recognised the institute of the tribunal, institutions of the
Croatian state and that former authorities had not let him be
interviewed by the tribunal's investigators.
"We have sent him a clear message that the best thing he could do now
is to use this favourable moment for himself and appear before the
Hague-based tribunal," the president said.
(hina) ms sb