CRO CONFERENCE SUPPORTING ICC HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE

( Editorial: --> 9713 ) ZAGREB, July 24 (Hina) - The Croatian National Conference for supporting the International Criminal Tribunal (ICC) on Friday held a press conference in Zagreb on the occasion of the establishment of the tribunal and the adoption of its statute. The Conference signed a final document on ICC's establishment in Rome on behalf of the Croatian Government. According to Croatian Foreign Ministry representative Dubravka Pleic Markovic, a tribunal proceedings code has to be passed within the next 12 months. We can expect that following parliamentary ratification from at least 60 countries the ICC will become operational between 2002 and 2005, she said. In Rome Croatia advocated that the establishment of a permanent tribunal should abolish the practice of two parallel judiciary mechanisms, according to Markovic "one which would cover the former Yugoslav territory and another for Croatia and all other countries." "The essence of our proposal was that the countries should not be permitted to refuse cooperation with the tribunal by citing national security as reason", Markovic said, adding this should be under the competence of either the tribunal or a separate court body which would be established to that end. The Croatian delegation, she explained, had mentioned an example when the Hague war crimes tribunal during a sub poena said Croatia could not cite national interest and endangered security as reason for not submitting documents, and demanded that this should extend to all countries. Eventually, a stand close to the American one prevailed and it was diametrically opposite to Croatia's. That is why in the ICC statute national interests were given priority before cooperation with the tribunal, said Markovic. In an attempt to make the ICC comply with its purpose, Amnesty International (AI) initiated an action immediately after the Rome conference, AI's secretary in Croatia Edin Tuzlak told reporters. AI will demand a general ratification of the ICC statute and that the United Nations Security Council should be prevented from stopping the launching of investigations and indictments, he said. AI will also uncover and demand public international condemnation of those countries which will use the possibility of discovering outside the tribunal's jurisdiction crimes committed by their citizens or which occurred on their territory, Tuzlak said. (hina) ha jn 241945 MET jul 98