US embassy cable - 04ZAGREB1675

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 001675 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR S/WCI - PROSPER, EUR/SCE - KABUMOTO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/19/2014 
TAGS: KAWC, PREL, KJUS, PHUM, HR, War Crimes 
SUBJECT: ICTY: SURPRISE OVER CERMAK/MARKAC, NO FANFARE FOR 
BOSNIAN CROATS 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Ralph Frank for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d). 
 
1. (U) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: Croatian government officials and 
political leaders expressed surprise and disappointment at 
the ICTY trial chamber's September 14 decision against 
provisional release of Generals Mladen Markac and Ivan 
Cermak, particularly in the wake of their voluntary surrender 
to the Court and the recent release of six Bosnian Croat 
indictees who were permitted to return to Croatia while 
awaiting their trial.  The court used the GOC's failure to 
deliver fugitive general Ante Gotovina to support its lack of 
confidence in state guarantees for the Markac/Cermak release. 
 
2. (C) The GOC undoubtedly hoped that the tightly controlled 
Zagreb arrival of the six Bosnian Croats a week earlier had 
demonstrated the seriousness of government guarantees related 
to provisional releases.  The conspicuous lack of press 
statements and absence of nationalist crowds at the airport 
for the six contrasted sharply with previous "homecomings" 
from the ICTY; the GOC made an effort to show it can manage 
public aspects of indictee releases. Anti-ICTY public 
sentiment gained a temporary boost, but the GOC will support 
the decision.   END SUMMARY AND COMMENT. 
 
SUPPORTING THE DECISION AND THE APPEAL 
-------------------------------------- 
 
3. (C) Despite political rumblings on the continued detention 
of Cermak and Markac, accused of war crimes in southern 
Croatia in 1995, Assistant Minister of Justice for ICTY 
Cooperation Jaksa Muljacic assured the Embassy September 15 
that MOJ Vesna Skare-Ozbolt will publicly stand by the 
ruling. "A court decision is a court decision," Muljacic 
stressed, quietly adding that Skare-Ozbolt will also support 
the generals, appeal expected September 20. 
 
4.  (C) The ruling against release will confuse Croatian 
public opinion, he said, considering that ICTY's Chief 
Prosecutor opposed the release of the Bosnian Croats but did 
not oppose the release of the two Croatian generals. 
According to Muljacic, this decision will stall the steady 
growth in public acceptance of the ICTY - important in 
setting the stage for the eventual capture of Gotovina, 
former commander of both Markac and Cermak. 
 
ALL QUIET AT PLESO AIRPORT 
-------------------------- 
 
4.  (U) Jadranko Prlic, Berislav Pusic, Bruno Stojic, 
Valentin Coric and Generals Slobodan Praljak and Milivoj 
Petkovic, all former political and military leaders of the so 
called Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna, made no public 
statements upon arrival in Croatia September 9, where they 
will await their trial in The Hague.  Whisking indictees and 
their families past the press, it appears the GOC is making a 
concerted effort to control public events likely to stir 
lingering anti-ICTY sentiments.  The ICTY indicted the six in 
April 2004 for war crimes related to the persecution of 
Bosnian Muslims in areas controlled by the Croatian Defense 
Council (HVO) from 1991 to 1994. 
 
5.  (U) The almost unnoticed arrival of the six was in stark 
contrast to the early August homecoming of General Tihomir 
Blaskic, which attracted several hundred supporters and 
created a minor media frenzy.  Unlike Blaskic, who was 
released after the ICTY reduced his sentence, the six Bosnian 
Croats are still awaiting trial and will remain under a gag 
order during their house arrest.  In addition, Blaskic was 
widely viewed by the Croatian public as a martyr paying for 
the crimes of others after receiving a 45-year sentence in 
2000, the longest handed down by ICTY judges at the time. 
Prlic and company are still somewhat undefined in Croatian 
eyes. 
 
THE TRANSFER TEMPEST 
-------------------- 
 
6.  (C) Thomas Osorio, head of the ICTY office in Zagreb, 
immediately dismissed comments appearing in the national 
press from Croat member of the Bosnian Presidency Dragan 
Covic claiming that this case would be transferred to Croatia 
or Bosnia.  While ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte is 
watching how Croatians react to release of the six Bosnian 
Croats to gauge the country's readiness for case transfers in 
terms of "atmospherics," according to Osorio, she has no 
intention of requesting the transfer of this case. 
 
FRANK 
 
 
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