UPPER HOUSE ENDORSES BILL ON COOPERATION WITH HAGUE TRIBUNAL

ZAGREB, March 11 (Hina) - The Croatian Parliament's House of Counties on Monday endorsed a constitutional bill on cooperation between Croatia and the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal. Assistant Justice Minister Tomislav Penic said that it was a procedural bill the purpose of which was to bring the Croatian law into accord with international law and standards. Penic said that the bill was based on an opinion that the Hague tribunal could not be legally treated as another country. The tribunal is a supranational body whose purpose is to prosecute perpetrators of war crimes, he added. During the debate it was said that the statute of the Hague tribunal did not treat a war of aggression as a war crime and that Croatian diplomats should call for such a provision to be inserted into the statute. The upper house also approved a bill on inquiry commissions proposed by the Committee for the Constitution, Rules of Procedure and Political System, according to which parliamentary inquiry commissions would be set up to consider issues of public interest. (hina) vm jn 111544 MET mar 96