Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ZAGREB92
2006-01-25 07:18:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Zagreb
Cable title:  

GOTOVINA - SHIFTING FROM MANHUNT TO DEFENSE FUND

Tags:  KAWC PREL RGOV HR 
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VZCZCXYZ0024
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVB #0092/01 0250718
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 250718Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5579
INFO RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 1084
C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000092 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR - DICARLO
EUR/SCE - ENGLISH, BELL
S/WCI - HODGKINSON
L/EUR - JOHNSON
INR - MORIN
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO NSC BRAUN
THE HAGUE FOR C. JOHNSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2016
TAGS: KAWC PREL RGOV HR
SUBJECT: GOTOVINA - SHIFTING FROM MANHUNT TO DEFENSE FUND

REF: A. A) 2005 ZAGREB 1940


B. B) 2005 ZAGREB 1939 AND PREVIOUS

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000092

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR - DICARLO
EUR/SCE - ENGLISH, BELL
S/WCI - HODGKINSON
L/EUR - JOHNSON
INR - MORIN
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO NSC BRAUN
THE HAGUE FOR C. JOHNSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2016
TAGS: KAWC PREL RGOV HR
SUBJECT: GOTOVINA - SHIFTING FROM MANHUNT TO DEFENSE FUND

REF: A. A) 2005 ZAGREB 1940


B. B) 2005 ZAGREB 1939 AND PREVIOUS

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


1. (C) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: With the manhunt over, GoC
attention has shifted to managing public expectations
regarding the defense of ICTY indictee Ante Gotovina. While
still unofficial, the GoC clearly intends to fund at least a
portion of Gotovina's defense team, as he was acting in his
capacity as a general in the Croatian Army at the time of the
alleged crimes. The GoC will also provide the defense with
the same access to state archives given to ICTY investigators
and prosecutors and offer expert information during the trial
through an Amicus Curia. The public still does not appear to
understand that neither the Croatian state nor Operation
Storm is on trial and will likely look for direct (and
inappropriate) GoC involvement in Gotovina's defense
strategy. The GoC, whose past rhetoric is in no small part
responsible for these public misperceptions, will have to
respond carefully to these political pressures while clearly
maintaining its policy of total ICTY cooperation.


2. (C) Thanks to these same misperceptions, the media and
certain misguided pundits continue to portray the supposed
U.S. role in Operation Storm as the key to Gotovina's
vindication. While in fact completely irrelevant to the
defense, we expect these stories will continue to appear
throughout the trial. Post does not intend to comment on the
U.S. role in Operation Storm except to point out that
Gotovina is on trial for his individual actions, not the
military operation. END SUMMARY AND COMMENT.

STATE ROLE IN GOTOVINA'S DEFENSE: FUNDS - YES, DIRECTION - NO
-------------- --------------


3. (SBU) The GoC has not taken official action to fund
Gotovina's defense, according to Assistant Minister of
Justice for ICTY Cooperation Jaksa Muljacic, but clearly
plans to do so. The GoC is already funding the defense of
Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac, whose indictment may be joined
with Gotovina's in the near future. According to Muljacic,

the GoC will likely pay approximately 20,000 euro per month
to each of two attorneys. This may be supplemented by funds
from a recently-formed private foundation called the "Fund
for the Truth about the Patriotic War."


4. (SBU) Head of the ICTY's Zagreb liaison office Thomas
Osorio is surprised that Gotovina's attorneys did not seek
funding through the Tribunal before asking for GoC
assistance. He speculates, though, that they are unwilling
to open Gotovina's assets up to court scrutiny, which is
required before receiving ICTY funds. Government funding of
defense, he said, is common with Hague indictees. From the
Tribunal's perspective, he added, the key issue will be how
the GoC and the defense team behave.


5. (SBU) According to Osorio, the GoC must not control
Gotovina's defense team in any way despite the funding. The
danger, he said, is that attorneys will begin to represent
the state rather than their defendant, in which case Chambers
will dismiss them. The Tribunal twice warned GoC-funded
defense counsel Ante Nobilo of this during the trial of
Tihomir Blaskic, but the GOC now appears to understand the
necessary boundaries. Minister of Justice Vesna Skare Ozbolt
told PolOff shortly after Gotovina's arrest that the GoC
would only be involved in elements of the defense that go
beyond the individual, such as background on Operation Storm
and the state of the country at the time.


6. (SBU) Osorio added that the division between the defense
team and any Amicus Curia/friends of the court that the GoC
appoints must be "a brick wall." The state, Osorio
emphasized, is not party to this indictment, despite
political rhetoric to the contrary, and Croatia must not
attempt to use an Amicus Curia to present its case or
Chambers will dismiss the Amicus as irrelevant. The
Tribunal, he said, is sensitive to this matter as it was
created to judge individual and not collective guilt.
Assistant Minister of Justice Muljacic has clearly heard
Osorio's warning on this point. While acknowledging that a
team is already at work preparing Amicus material, Muljacic
told PolOff that it will only be used to provide context for
the court in matters requiring expert assessment.
THE DEFENSE TEAM: FOCUS ON FUNDS, CREDENTIALS
--------------


7. (SBU) With no set financing, Gotovina's attorneys have
still not been able to file for accreditation before the
ICTY, so the members of the defense team are still uncertain.
Most likely, Chicago-based attorney Luka Misetic will lead
the team. He may be joined by another American - former ICTY
prosecutor Greg Kehoe. As U.S. attorneys, Misetic and Kehoe
must declare their financing to and be licensed by the
Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control.


8. (SBU) Gotovina's Croatian attorneys include Marijan
Pedisic and Marin Ivanovic, both of whom will likely have
problems receiving ICTY accreditation. Pedisic is subject of
an ongoing investigation into his involvement in procuring
the forged passports used by Gotovina and Hrvoje Petrac.
Marin Ivanovic was the lead figure in "Operation Hague," a
late 90s effort by the GoC to obstruct the work of the ICTY.
FRANK