CROATIAN POLITICIANS DERIDE LATEST GOTOVINA LEGAL

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000076

SIPDIS


DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE, S/WCI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KJUS KAWC PREL HR
SUBJECT: CROATIAN POLITICIANS DERIDE LATEST GOTOVINA LEGAL
TEAM PLOY


1. (U) Croatian political leaders from President Mesic to HDZ
presidential candidate Jadranka Kosor and Minister of Justice
Skare-Ozbolt roundly condemned a January 5 letter sent by
ICTY Fugitive Ante Gotovina's lawyer, Luka Misetic, to the
Luxemburg EU Chair and recently leaked to the press. In the
letter, Misetic offers that Gotovina would surrender to the
Tribunal if his case were transfered to the Croatian judicial
system for processing. Reaction to the letter from the GoC
was swift and negative, with most leaders repeating
assertions that Gotovina must appear in The Hague.


2. (U) Minister of Justice Skare-Ozbolt issued a statement
saying that "the grounds for an indictment or a lack thereof
can only and exclusively be proven in legal proceedings
before the court that approved the indictment." She further
noted that only the ICTY Trial Chamber could approve a case
transfer and only at the recommendation of the Chief
Prosecutor. Assistant Minister of Justice Jaksa Muljacic,
responsible for ICTY cooperation, stated clearly in several
press interviews that such a transfer was out of the question
in Gotovina's case as long as he was a fugitive.


3. (U) President Mesic said sarcastically that he wished
Gotovina's lawyers luck with this tactic. Earlier this week
in a nationally televised campaign debate in which he was
asked what he would do if he saw Gotovina on the street,
Mesic answered unabiguously that Croatia has a constitutional
law on cooperation with the ICTY and that he would obey that
law. HDZ presidential candidate Kosor, who flubbed her
answer to the same debate question ("I wouldn't recognize
him),responded to this letter's publication that "I don't
think this attempt to resolve the case through the press is
good for General Gotovina."
FRANK


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