GOTOVINA SEARCH SEPTEMBER UPDATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 001749 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/SCE-KABUMOTO, S/WCI-PROSPER E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/29/2014 TAGS: KAWC PREL HR SUBJECT: GOTOVINA SEARCH SEPTEMBER UPDATE Classified By: Poloff Justin Friedman, reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) ¶1. (U) The ongoing GoC search for ICTY fugitive Ante Gotovina hit the Croatian news last week with the arrest of four persons suspected of being part of Gotovina's support network and the retirement of Gotovina's wife, Dunja Gotovina, from the Croatian Armed Forces. Minister of Justice Vesna Skare-Ozbolt denied that the sensational raids on the Zagreb and Zadar homes of Zeljko Dilber, Ante Maksan, Zeljko Matozan, Zdenko Rincic were tied to her then upcoming visit to The Hague. All four were released following questioning, but Dilber and Maksan will face illegal weapons possession charges resulting from evidence discovered during the raid. ¶2. (C) Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic - the GoC lead on the search for Gotovina - told us on September 28 that the timing of these raids was pure coincidence. The request for search warrants on six individuals had been with the courts for several weeks before four were issued and the raids launched. The two remaining requests were denied by the Sibenik court for insufficient grounds. Bajic said that a joint police and intelligence service team was still analyzing data from computer and paper files recovered in the raid. However, preliminary analysis seems to indicate that at least Dilber and Maksan had been in contact with Gotovina. Bajic noted with satisfaction the improving coordination between police investigators and the Croatian POA (internal intelligence service). A working group has been formed and is taking the lead in the investigation, freeing Bajic from having to have a more hands-on role in directing police activities. ¶3. (C) Bajic holds out more hope for focusing current investigative efforts on Gotovina's wife, Dunja Gotovina. For the past seven years, Mrs. Gotovina has received a Lt. Colonel's salary from the Croatian army. Last week the GoC announce the she will be retired from active duty by October ¶15. Bajic said that the investigation of Mrs. Gotovina's financial records was ongoing, but was key to tracing Ante Gotovina's support network. Following reports of her traveling outside Croatia last spring, Mrs. Gotovina refused to show her passport to investigators. Border police data do not indicate that she left the country, but Bajic has a search warrant request to look at her passport to try to determine her movements. ¶4. (C) Bajic also said that he had followed up on information from the ICTY (which also splashed in the media) about Gotovina being seen in the seaside community of Brela near Makarska. Bajic's mother lives in Brela and Bajic is a personal friend of the owner of the restaurant in which Gotovina was allegedly seen and photographed. In a small, resort town with only one road (the Adriatic highway) and a narrow sea channel for entry or exit, it would be an unlikely stopover for Gotovina. Bajic learned that the reports seemed to stem from an actor with a strong physical resemblence who had made himself up to look like Gotovina as part of a promotion for a film to be made with a Gotovina character. FRANK NNNN