CROATIAN POLICE RAID HOMES OF FORMER MILITARY

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000724 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE, S/WCI THE HAGUE FOR OLC E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/01/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV ICTY HR SUBJECT: CROATIAN POLICE RAID HOMES OF FORMER MILITARY OFFICIALS IN SEARCH OF ARTILLERY LOGS FOR ICTY REF: ZAGREB 722 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: Rick Holtzapple, PolEcon Counselor, for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d). ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: On December 9, Croatian police, coordinated by the GoC's inter-agency Task Force searching for missing artillery documents sought by the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY),raided and searched a number of homes and buildings in Croatia, with counterparts searching sites in Bosnia-Herzegovina. All of the buildings searched were connected with retired military or former Ministry of Defense officials, several of whom have ties to General Gotovina's defense lawyers at the ICTY. The police are now looking through the documents collected to see whether they include any of those sought by the OTP. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) The raids began in early in the morning, and were completed by noon. The police have not revealed publicly how many people were under investigation, but did say that dozens of sites were searched. A police official on the Task Force told Post privately that they searched sites connected with ten individuals in Croatia, and one individual in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Suspects in the investigation were also questioned by police during the course of the day on December ¶10. While no list of individuals has been released, according to the media, among those searched were four retired colonels, and retired general Rahim Ademi. (NOTE: Ademi was indicted by the ICTY in a separate case, and tried and acquitted by a Croatian court after that case was transferred by the ICTY to Croatia. END NOTE.) Police sources have told us that interviews were also held with Admiral Domazet Loso, a retired Chief of Defense, and the son of the late Jano Bobetko, another former CHOD. ¶3. (C) Police sources added that a considerable number of documents were found, reportedly including some maps. The Task Force is now going through the documents to see what they have found, and whether any of them are connected to the list of documents being sought by the OTP. Our source told us that they hope to have a clear picture of what they have found by December 11. ¶4. (C) Our Police source also told us that, based on the information collected so far, a particular focus will be on Marin Ivanovic, a former MoD official who is now part of Gotovina's defense team. Further searches of his home, office and vehicle are scheduled for December 10. Ivanovic is already on trial for stealing or destroying documents related to Gotovina's case, based on information gathered earlier in the GoC's investigations. According to press reports, one of Gotovina's lead lawyers, Luka Misetic, has protested the Croatian police action and claimed it amounts to "harassment" of the legal team. Misetic also threatened that, unless the ICTY invokes sanctions against Croatia for its actions, the defense team will go on "strike" and begin to boycott trial proceedings. ¶5. (C) PM Kosor's foreign policy advisor, Davor Stier, called the Ambassador on December 9 to inform us that the operation was on-going. He noted that the GoC was concerned that there could be a backlash from veterans' groups, given that the individuals whose homes were searched are veterans. Therefore, the government made sure the police released general information about the searches, in order to shape the story as it hit the media. ¶6. (C) COMMENT: It would appear that the Task Force has been able to develop leads, thanks to more aggressive and intrusive methods such as active surveillance and wire taps. Some columnists, as well as Ademi himself, have speculated that the raids are mainly designed to impress ICTY Prosecutor Brammertz with the seriousness of the GoC's efforts, and that there is little hope of finding more documents. Nonetheless, these actions are necessary to help establish definitively what happened to the missing documents, and who was responsible for their disappearance, whether or not any can still actually be recovered. END COMMENT. FOLEY