ICTY SEES LOCAL NGOS AS CREDIBLE TRIAL MONITORS

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000227 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, S/WCI, INR, INL DEPT PLEASE PASS TO NSC BRAUN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KAWC PGOV HR WAR CRIMES SUBJECT: ICTY SEES LOCAL NGOS AS CREDIBLE TRIAL MONITORS ¶1. (U) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: Croatian NGOs Documenta and the Center for Peace, Nonviolence, and Human Rights discussed their recently released annual war crimes trial monitoring report with judicial officials at a March 3 roundtable in Zagreb. Panelists, including a judge, a prosecutor, a law professor, and a human rights activist, all agreed that the report showed credible NGO trial-monitoring capacity and painted a realistic picture of war crimes trials in Croatia. Post supports both NGOs through war crimes program grants. ¶2. (SBU) Thomas Osorio, Zagreb head of mission for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY),attended roundtable at PolOff's urging. He concluded that local NGOs offered a credible alternative to OSCE trial monitors for the Ademi-Norac case, transferred to Croatia under rule 11bis and scheduled to go to trial in Zagreb in May. Osorio, who told PolOff that Hague Chief Prosecutor Del Ponte had charged him with finding an alternative to OSCE monitors by the end of 2007, urged NGOs to approach his office if they are interested in entering a future monitoring agreement with the ICTY. Post agrees with Osorio's assessment that local NGOs are capable of objective trial monitoring and will fill any information gaps in this area after OSCE closes its mission in Croatia. END SUMMARY AND COMMENT. REPORT CONCLUSIONS: MARKED IMPROVEMENT, OLD WEAKNESSES -------------- -------------- ¶3. (U) Center for Peace and Documenta monitored 18 war crimes trials across Croatia in 2006, drawing the following positive conclusions: - the Chief State Prosecutor's Office has strengthened regional cooperation on war crimes trials, discontinued pursuit of "in absentia" trials, launched investigations regardless of the ethnicity of perpetrators or victims, pursued prosecutions based on command responsibility, and increased transparency of their work; and - County Courts (the first instance court for war crimes) registered no major violations of the law on criminal procedure, prevented supporters of defendants from staging obstructive incidents on court premises, successfully completed several trials where previous verdicts were overturned by the Supreme Court, and cooperated with police in Croatia and in the region to bring witnesses to the court. ¶4. (U) The report identified the following weaknesses: - continuation of "in absentia" trials against large numbers of defendants (Note: This figure is skewed by several large group indictments filed in Vukovar before the change in policy), - insufficiently detailed indictments, - the burden of repeating trials when verdicts are overturned by the Supreme Court, - inconsistent policies regarding pre-trial detention, and - insufficient support to victims and witnesses. An English summary of the complete report is available on-line at: www.centar-za-mir.hr/pdf/wc Annual%20Report%202006.pdf . ¶5. (U) Panelists, which included Vukovar County Court President Ante Zeljko, a Deputy State Prosecutor Antun Kvakan, law professor and MP Ivo Josipovic, and Croatian Helsinki Committee president Zarko Puhovski human rights activist, agreed that the report was generally accurate. Judge Zeljko explained why "in absentia" trials are sometimes necessary and are in fact specifically provided for in Croatian law. Josipovic noted that he is finalizing a trial monitoring handbook (financed by Post) for use by NGO trial monitors. WITNESS SUPPORT/FACILITATION IDENTIFIED AS CRITICAL NEED -------------- -------------- ¶6. (U) NGO representatives stressed the importance of development of a system to support victims and witnesses during the trial process. Court logistics are frequently intimidating to witnesses, who often have to use the same entrance as the defendants and members of the public, and who must testify while defendants sit just a few feet behind them. Currently, no one prepares witnesses for what awaits them in court, and there are no logistical services to assist them in appearing. COMMENT: Embassy is currently considering assisting the GoC in filling this witness-support gap, possibly by redirecting some SEED funds currently allocated to other rule-of-law activities. END COMMENT. BRADTKE