ICTY'S DEL PONTE ON CROATIA: COMMITMENT BUT NOT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000926

SIPDIS


DEPARTMENT FOR S/WCI, EUR/SCE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/03/2015
TAGS: KAWC PREL HR
SUBJECT: ICTY'S DEL PONTE ON CROATIA: COMMITMENT BUT NOT
YET FULL COOPERATION

Classified By: Ambassador Ralph Frank, Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)

SUMMARY
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1. (C) At the close of her short visit to Croatia, ICTY
Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte briefed that she was
convinced that GoC efforts to arrest fugitive Ante Gotovina
are sincere but that commitment does not equal full
cooperation
with the Tribunal. She indicated that by September she
would be in a position to better assess the GoC effort and
stated that full cooperation with the Tribunal would not
require Gotovina to be in The Hague. She also said that she
will recommend that the Vukovar Three case remain in The
Hague and not/not be transferred to either Croatia or
Serbia and Montenegro. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte briefed the U.S.
and EU ambassadors on June 3 on the status of Croatia's
cooperation with the Tribunal following her June 2 meeting in
Zagreb with the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and
Justice Minister. Although her comments tracked with her
May 25 report to the UN Security Council which she will
present
formally on June 13, del Ponte emphasized that she had no
doubt
about the political commitment of PM Sanader and the GoC to
arrest
ICTY fugitive Ante Gotovina. Repeating comments from her
press briefing following her meeting with PM Sanader, del
Ponte said that commitment is not/not the same as full
cooperation. Del Ponte's political advisor, Anton
Nikoforov, summarized the point that a plan is "a plan and
results are results." So far results are not satisfactory
therefore there is not full cooperation.


3. (C) Del Ponte said that she is convinced that the GoC is
seriously undertaking the measures outlined in PM Sanader's
six point plan. However, she declined to elaborate what
those steps were because of their sensitive nature. She
said that the GoC had abandoned efforts to convince
Gotovina to surrender voluntarily and is now working to
destroy his support network. Responding to the German
ambassador's question of whether full cooperation could be
possible without Gotovina, del Ponte said she was convinced
the GoC is doing all that can be done, but the process is
only just starting and it was too early to make an
assessment. However, when asked about next steps after
June 13, she said that at the beginning of September, she
would be able to make a final assessment of progress,
regardless of whether Gotovina is in The Hague. She added
that Gotovina in The Hague was not/not required for full
cooperation.


4. (C) Del Ponte said she would discuss Croatia's cooperation
with Luxembourg FM Asselborn next week. She also drew a
distinction between Gotovina on the one hand, and Mladic and
Karadzic on the other: the latter two are most responsible for
genocide, she said.


5. (C) Del Ponte briefed on the materials found last
weekend in Italy allegedly connected to Gotovina. She said
that the briefcase reportedly tossed from a dark BMW
contained a photocopy of Gotovina's fake Croatian passport
in the name of "Christian Horvat" as well as an apparently
genuine Italian identity card with Gotovina's picture and
the Horvat name.


6. (C) On 11 bis case transfers, del Ponte said that she
expected a decision on the Norac and Ademi cases soon. On
the Vukovar Three case, she said that following her visits
to Belgrade and Zagreb, she would speak to the President of
the trial chamber on Monday (June 6) regarding her preference
to keep the trial in The Hague.
FRANK


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