ZAGREB, July 6 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Carla del Ponte, said on Friday that a month ago her office handed to the Croatian government two sealed indictments, to
which Prime Minister Ivica Racan objected in writing. The ICTY is not criminalising Croatia's Homeland War, del Ponte emphasised.
ZAGREB, July 6 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor of the International
Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Carla del Ponte,
said on Friday that a month ago her office handed to the Croatian
government two sealed indictments, to which Prime Minister Ivica
Racan objected in writing. The ICTY is not criminalising Croatia's
Homeland War, del Ponte emphasised. #L#
Prime Minister Racan objected to the indictments in writing and I
came today to explain the legal reasons why we cannot meet his
demands, del Ponte told reporters after almost four hours of talks
with the Croatian premier. The ICTY chief prosecutor stressed that
the tribunal would insist that Croatia carry out the arrest
warrants.
The chief prosecutor said the ICTY had had a very good cooperation
with the Croatian government in every aspect.
But the final test for any government and state is the hand-over of
persons indicted by the ICTY, she added.
The hand-over of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic was
such a test for the Serbian government to demonstrate readiness to
fully cooperate with the ICTY prosecution, she said.
Warning that she could not speak about sealed indictments, del
Ponte said she wanted to stress that the Hague tribunal had never
questioned the lawfulness of any operation of the Croatian army and
police on Croatia's territory.
We are not criminalising your Homeland War, we are dealing with
individual responsibility at high command levels, she said. After
she gave the statement, del Ponte left the news conference because
she had to catch her flight.
Racan said the government will be discussing the two indictments at
an extraordinary session, during which further steps will be
decided on.
A Hague tribunal's decision binds me to withhold any information
about the sealed indictments and the raised objections, Racan said,
but confirmed the government would continue to carry out its
cooperation policy with the ICTY.
"As Prime Minister I raised some objections and remarks regarding
these indictments but as I cannot speak about them I cannot speak
about my objections either. The Croatian government will consider
further steps," Racan said.
Asked if del Ponte had set a deadline for the government to carry out
the arrest warrants, Racan evaded a direct answer, saying the
government would "see what it can do and in which time."
"The Government and the Croatian state are in that regard legally
bound to cooperate with the Hague tribunal. This includes a certain
procedure which has its period of duration, and the government, in
any case, will take a stand before the procedure takes place," Racan
said.
Today's visit of the ICTY prosecutor to Zagreb confirmed
speculations in the domestic and foreign media about two sealed
indictments against Croatian army generals who commanded
Operations Medak Pocket and Storm. According to an unofficial
statement by a senior source in the Croatian authorities, the
indictments referred to Generals Rahim Ademi and Ante Gotovina.
(hina) sb rml