US embassy cable - 04ZAGREB1749

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 001749 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE-KABUMOTO, S/WCI-PROSPER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/29/2014 
TAGS: KAWC, PREL, HR, War Crimes 
SUBJECT: GOTOVINA SEARCH SEPTEMBER UPDATE 
 
Classified By: Poloff Justin Friedman, reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) 
 
1. (U) The ongoing GoC search for ICTY fugitive Ante Gotovina 
hit the Croatian news last week with the arrest of four 
persons suspected of being part of Gotovina's support network 
and the retirement of Gotovina's wife, Dunja Gotovina, from 
the Croatian Armed Forces.  Minister of Justice Vesna 
Skare-Ozbolt denied that the sensational raids on the Zagreb 
and Zadar homes of Zeljko Dilber, Ante Maksan, Zeljko 
Matozan, Zdenko Rincic were tied to her then upcoming visit 
to The Hague.  All four were released following questioning, 
but Dilber and Maksan will face illegal weapons possession 
charges resulting from evidence discovered during the raid. 
 
2. (C) Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic - the GoC lead on 
the search for Gotovina - told us on September 28 that the 
timing of these raids was pure coincidence.  The request for 
search warrants on six individuals had been with the courts 
for several weeks before four were issued and the raids 
launched.  The two remaining requests were denied by the 
Sibenik court for insufficient grounds.  Bajic said that a 
joint police and intelligence service team was still 
analyzing data from computer and paper files recovered in the 
raid.  However, preliminary analysis seems to indicate that 
at least Dilber and Maksan had been in contact with Gotovina. 
 Bajic noted with satisfaction the improving coordination 
between police investigators and the Croatian POA (internal 
intelligence service).  A working group has been formed and 
is taking the lead in the investigation, freeing Bajic from 
having to have a more hands-on role in directing police 
activities. 
 
3. (C) Bajic holds out more hope for focusing current 
investigative efforts on Gotovina's wife, Dunja Gotovina. 
For the past seven years, Mrs. Gotovina has received a Lt. 
Colonel's salary from the Croatian army.  Last week the GoC 
announce the she will be retired from active duty by October 
15.  Bajic said that the investigation of Mrs. Gotovina's 
financial records was ongoing, but was key to tracing Ante 
Gotovina's support network.  Following reports of her 
traveling outside Croatia last spring, Mrs. Gotovina refused 
to show her passport to investigators.  Border police data do 
not indicate that she left the country, but Bajic has a 
search warrant request to look at her passport to try to 
determine her movements. 
 
4. (C) Bajic also said that he had followed up on information 
from the ICTY (which also splashed in the media) about 
Gotovina being seen in the seaside community of Brela near 
Makarska.  Bajic's mother lives in Brela and Bajic is a 
personal friend of the owner of the restaurant in which 
Gotovina was allegedly seen and photographed.  In a small, 
resort town with only one road (the Adriatic highway) and a 
narrow sea channel for entry or exit, it would be an unlikely 
stopover for Gotovina.  Bajic learned that the reports seemed 
to stem from an actor with a strong physical resemblence who 
had made himself up to look like Gotovina as part of a 
promotion for a film to be made with a Gotovina character. 
FRANK 
 
 
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