US embassy cable - 04ZAGREB456

C O N F I D E N T I A L  ZAGREB 000456 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
THE HAGUE FOR CLIFF JOHNSON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2014 
TAGS: PREL, KAWC, HR, BK, War Crimes 
SUBJECT: ZAGREB AWAITS NEW ICTY INDICTMENTS FOR BOSNIAN 
CROATS 
 
REF: A. ZAGREB 380 
 
     B. ZAGREB 425 
 
Classified By: Pol/Econ Counselor Nicholas M. Hill for reasons 1.5 (b,d 
) 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
1.  (C) Croatia is expecting the imminent arrival of new 
indictments from ICTY against a series of Bosnian Croats for 
their actions in BiH in 1993-94.  According to the press, 
Justice Minister Vesna Skare Ozbolt met with likely indictees 
Milivoj Petkovic and Slobodan Praljak during the evening of 
March 16; both men reportedly said that they will agree to be 
transferred to The Hague when served with an indictment. 
Assistant Justice Minister responsible for ICTY Cooperation, 
Jasko Muljacic, and Head of the ICTY Liaison Office in 
Zagreb, Tom Osorio, both expressed optimism that relations 
between the new government and the Tribunal were excellent. 
End summary. 
 
2.   (C) Croatia's press is reporting that the GoC expects 
the imminent arrival of new indictments against several 
Bosnian Croats for actions in BiH in 1993-1994.  According to 
local press reports, two of the likely indictees -- Milivoj 
Petkovic and Slobodan Praljak -- met with Justice Minister 
Vesna Skare Ozbolt on March 16 and reportedly said that they 
will agree to be transferred to The Hague when served with an 
indictment.  Both Petkovic and Praljak reside in Zagreb (see 
ref a). 
 
3.  (C) We met on March 17 with Jaksa Muljacic, Assistant 
Justice Minister in charge of ICTY Cooperation.  While he 
could not confirm "officially" that Skare Ozbolt met with 
Milivoj Petkovic and Slobodan Praljak, he said he did not 
anticipate any problems with the two giving themselves up. 
If they balk, "we will arrest them."  There is no other 
choice for Croatia. 
 
4.   (C) Muljacic just returned from The Hague where he met 
with Carla del Ponte.  He said the Tribunal officials he met 
were happy with the GOC's cooperation to date.  The 
government had successfully transferred Mladen Markac and 
Ivan Cermak.  While there were no guarantees, Muljacic said 
Carla del Ponte had assured him informally that the two would 
be released pending a trial date.  The Trial Chamber would 
have to make this decision, but absent any concerns by the 
Prosecutor's office, it would likely come quickly -- probably 
within a matter of weeks. 
 
5.   (C) Muljacic said the government had some problems with 
the contents of the indictments against Cermak and Markac, 
particular the references to the existence of a "joint 
criminal enterprise" in connection with Operation Storm, but 
would address them through legal channels.  However, he 
stressed that such issues would not get in the way of full 
cooperation with ICTY.  The government Council on Cooperation 
with the Tribunal, which is chaired by the Justice Minister, 
was scheduled to meet on March 17 to discuss in what form to 
state the government's concerns about the Cermak and Markac 
indictments, if at all.  "There's plenty of time for that," 
Muljacic said.  He does not expect a trial for up to another 
two years. 
 
6.  (C) He dismissed a report in Zagreb-weekly Nacional that 
the GoC aimed to have Cermak and Markac prosecuted in a 
domestic war crimes trial.  The trial will be in The Hague, 
and there will be no effort to change the venue. 
Nonetheless, the government has committed itself to boosting 
its capacity to prosecute war crimes cases in Croatia, 
although trials would be of a much lower profile than the 
names on indictments that have been seen so far.  Muljacic 
anticipates eventually some 20 such cases being prosecuted 
domestically. 
 
7.   (C) On Gotovina, Muljacic said that he discussed the 
report on what steps the GOC was taking to apprehend Ante 
Gotovina with Carla del Ponte.  He did not show us a copy, 
but indicated that the report, about 30 pages in length, 
would go a long way to demonstrate that Gotovina is not 
likely in Croatia at this time.  Del Ponte told him that her 
office would look at it closely, and there would likely be 
many follow up questions.  Any official reaction would follow 
that. 
 
 
8.   (C) In a separate meeting on March 11 with Tom Osorio, 
head of the Zagreb ICTY Liaison Office, he told us that the 
Tribunal was very pleased with the extent of cooperation 
shown so far by the new authorities in Croatia.  He ticked 
off a number of areas where the government was doing exactly 
what it should be doing, described Ozbolt's can-do posture on 
cooperation, and said he hoped -- and expected -- that good 
relations would continue this way. 
FRANK 
 
 
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