ZAGREB AWAITS NEW ICTY INDICTMENTS FOR BOSNIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000456

SIPDIS


THE HAGUE FOR CLIFF JOHNSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2014
TAGS: PREL KAWC HR BK
SUBJECT: ZAGREB AWAITS NEW ICTY INDICTMENTS FOR BOSNIAN
CROATS

REF: A. ZAGREB 380


B. ZAGREB 425

Classified By: Pol/Econ Counselor Nicholas M. Hill for reasons 1.5 (b,d
)

Summary
--------------


1. (C) Croatia is expecting the imminent arrival of new
indictments from ICTY against a series of Bosnian Croats for
their actions in BiH in 1993-94. According to the press,
Justice Minister Vesna Skare Ozbolt met with likely indictees
Milivoj Petkovic and Slobodan Praljak during the evening of
March 16; both men reportedly said that they will agree to be
transferred to The Hague when served with an indictment.
Assistant Justice Minister responsible for ICTY Cooperation,
Jasko Muljacic, and Head of the ICTY Liaison Office in
Zagreb, Tom Osorio, both expressed optimism that relations
between the new government and the Tribunal were excellent.
End summary.


2. (C) Croatia's press is reporting that the GoC expects
the imminent arrival of new indictments against several
Bosnian Croats for actions in BiH in 1993-1994. According to
local press reports, two of the likely indictees -- Milivoj
Petkovic and Slobodan Praljak -- met with Justice Minister
Vesna Skare Ozbolt on March 16 and reportedly said that they
will agree to be transferred to The Hague when served with an
indictment. Both Petkovic and Praljak reside in Zagreb (see
ref a).


3. (C) We met on March 17 with Jaksa Muljacic, Assistant
Justice Minister in charge of ICTY Cooperation. While he
could not confirm "officially" that Skare Ozbolt met with
Milivoj Petkovic and Slobodan Praljak, he said he did not
anticipate any problems with the two giving themselves up.
If they balk, "we will arrest them." There is no other
choice for Croatia.


4. (C) Muljacic just returned from The Hague where he met
with Carla del Ponte. He said the Tribunal officials he met
were happy with the GOC's cooperation to date. The
government had successfully transferred Mladen Markac and
Ivan Cermak. While there were no guarantees, Muljacic said
Carla del Ponte had assured him informally that the two would
be released pending a trial date. The Trial Chamber would
have to make this decision, but absent any concerns by the
Prosecutor's office, it would likely come quickly -- probably
within a matter of weeks.


5. (C) Muljacic said the government had some problems with
the contents of the indictments against Cermak and Markac,
particular the references to the existence of a "joint
criminal enterprise" in connection with Operation Storm, but
would address them through legal channels. However, he
stressed that such issues would not get in the way of full
cooperation with ICTY. The government Council on Cooperation
with the Tribunal, which is chaired by the Justice Minister,
was scheduled to meet on March 17 to discuss in what form to
state the government's concerns about the Cermak and Markac
indictments, if at all. "There's plenty of time for that,"
Muljacic said. He does not expect a trial for up to another
two years.


6. (C) He dismissed a report in Zagreb-weekly Nacional that
the GoC aimed to have Cermak and Markac prosecuted in a
domestic war crimes trial. The trial will be in The Hague,
and there will be no effort to change the venue.
Nonetheless, the government has committed itself to boosting
its capacity to prosecute war crimes cases in Croatia,
although trials would be of a much lower profile than the
names on indictments that have been seen so far. Muljacic
anticipates eventually some 20 such cases being prosecuted
domestically.


7. (C) On Gotovina, Muljacic said that he discussed the
report on what steps the GOC was taking to apprehend Ante
Gotovina with Carla del Ponte. He did not show us a copy,
but indicated that the report, about 30 pages in length,
would go a long way to demonstrate that Gotovina is not
likely in Croatia at this time. Del Ponte told him that her
office would look at it closely, and there would likely be
many follow up questions. Any official reaction would follow
that.



8. (C) In a separate meeting on March 11 with Tom Osorio,
head of the Zagreb ICTY Liaison Office, he told us that the
Tribunal was very pleased with the extent of cooperation
shown so far by the new authorities in Croatia. He ticked
off a number of areas where the government was doing exactly
what it should be doing, described Ozbolt's can-do posture on
cooperation, and said he hoped -- and expected -- that good
relations would continue this way.
FRANK


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