US embassy cable - 04THEHAGUE3210

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 THE HAGUE 003210 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR S/WCI - PROSPER/RICHARD, EUR - STEPHENS, 
EUR/SCE - GAUDIOSI/GREGORIAN/MITCHELL, L/EUR - KJOHNSON, 
L/AF - GTAFT. INR/WCAD - SEIDENSTRICKER/MORIN; USUN FOR 
ROSTOW/WILLSON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: FIVE YEARS AFTER ICTY CLOSURE 
TAGS: BK, HR, KAWC, PHUM, ICTY, PREL SR 
SUBJECT: ICTY - PROSPER WARNS THAT TRIBUNAL MAY CONTINUE 
PAST 2008/2010 DEADLINE IF SAM NON-COOPERATION CONTINUES 
 
 
Classified By: Legal Counselor Clifton M. Johnson, Reasons: 1.5(b)-(d). 
 
1.  (C)  Summary.  On December 6, Ambassador-at-Large for War 
Crimes Issues Pierre Prosper met with officials from the 
Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) at the International Criminal 
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).  During the 
meeting, and later with the press, Prosper emphasized that a 
lack of cooperation on fugitives from states in the region, 
particularly Serbia, could jeopardize the ICTY's ability to 
complete its work by the 2008/2010 target and necessitate its 
continuation.  OTP officials welcomed this approach and 
outlined their current views of noncooperation by Serbia and 
Montenegro (SAM) and Croatia, their efforts to conclude all 
investigations by the end of this month (reported septel), 
and the debilitating effects of the ongoing budget freeze on 
their ability to meet the strategy's longer-term target 
dates. End summary. 
 
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Completion Strategy and Belgrade Noncooperation 
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2.  (C)  Ambassador Prosper, joined by Embassy legal 
officers, met for nearly an hour on December 6 with Deputy 
Prosecutor David Tolbert, Chief of Investigations Patrick 
Lopez-Terez, and politcal advisers Anton Nikiforov and 
Jean-Daniel Ruch.  Prosper reiterated the U.S. position that 
Serbia and Montenegro (SAM), and to a lesser extent Croatia, 
have not cooperated adequately with the ICTY on transfering 
fugitives to the Tribunal, thereby jeopardizing the 
Tribunal's ability to meet the 2008/20010 targets for 
completing its work.  Prosper observed that if if SAM's lack 
of cooperation continued, the ICTY may have to advise the UN 
Security Council (UNSC) that the completion targets were at 
risk and suggest new target dates in its next report to the 
Council in the spring.  Prosper explained:  "2008 (for 
completing all ICTY trials) is a goal, not a deadline." 
Tolbert welcomed this message, noting that its expectation 
that all indictees must come to The Hague before the Tribunal 
could finish its work helped close an important gap in 
previous USG statements that had focused exclusively on the 
transfer of Karadzic, Mladic, and Gotovina.  Separately, 
Political Adviser Ruch noted that the recent provisional 
release of Franki Simatovic and Jovica Stanisic was extremely 
worrisome to OTP, which is concerned that the two will engage 
in witness intimidation and, in any event, will not return to 
The Hague.  (NB: He asked that the USG monitor the activities 
of the two to the extent possible, given his view that they 
had the ability to destabilize the situation in Belgrade.) 
 
 
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Croatian Cooperation 
-------------------- 
 
3.  (C)  OTP's views on Croatian cooperation have soured 
since the Chief Prosecutor prematurely gave Zagreb high marks 
earlier this year, when she affirmed to EU interlocutors that 
Zagreb was 'fully cooperating' with the ICTY.  OTP Chief of 
Investigations Lopez-Terez described Croatian cooperation now 
as "good, but not outstanding."  With respect to documentary 
access, one area where Zagreb has been strong for some time, 
Lopez-Terres said that OTP investigators had recently 
discovered a cache of important documents that had been 
hidden from them while having been made available to defense 
attorneys.  He suggested that some of the material could have 
been relevant to the prosecution of General Tihomir Blaskic, 
whose sentence was drastically reduced earlier this year. 
Lopez-Terres, despite satisfaction with access to certain 
police and intelligence sources, continues to see a strong 
support network for fugitive Ante Gotovina within the state 
at different levels.  "Who is Croatia?" is the question on 
his mind, as he is unsure who in the government bears 
principal responsibility for failing to apprehend Gotovina. 
The recent surrender of Miroslav Bralo -- who was transferred 
to Bosnia and SFOR by Croatian authorities just a day after 
they informed the OTP that they could not locate him -- 
suggested to Lopez-Terez that the Croats "shot themselves in 
the foot."  Lopez-Terres surmized that the GOC's desire to 
claim public credit for the surrender had overridden their 
need to remain consistent with their previous denials. 
Lopez-Terez said that this incident suggested that Zagreb 
could apprehend wanted indictee Ante Gotovina if it chose to 
make that happen. 
 
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Budget Freeze 
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4. (C) OTP officials continued to lament the lack of ICTY 
resources resulting from the ongoing hiring freeze.  The 
freeze was resulting in a record high vacancy rate at the 
Tribunal and preventing the OTP from staffing a team to help 
transfer cases to the region for domestic trials.  Hopes were 
high, however, that a meeting this week of the UN Secretary 
General with Tribunal heads would break a stalemate over the 
budget freeze.  As reported in septel, legal officers 
subsequently learned that SyG Annan had committed to lift the 
freeze as soon as Japan paid its outstanding contribution. 
(NB.  Japan owes roughly 10 million dollars to the ICTY and 
roughly 8 million dollars to the ICTR, and has promised to 
pay both by year's end). 
 
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Press 
----- 
 
5.  (U)  Prosper spoke to members of the press in the ICTY 
lobby, stressing the message that Prime Minister Kostunica 
bears responsibility for the lack of Serb cooperation with 
the Tribunal, that SAM inaction on transfers risked an 
extension of the Tribunal's work, and that, until cooperation 
improves, the United States could not support transfer of 
trials to the region.  He reiterated these points later in 
meetings with reporters from the leading Dutch newspaper NRC 
Handelsblad and Le Monde.  Subsequent reports from the wire 
services, which were picked up in the International Herald 
Tribune and other papers, emphasized the point that the 
Tribunal might continue its work past 2008/2010 deadlines if 
Serb non-cooperation on fugitives continued. 
 
6.  (U)  This cable has been cleared by Ambassador Prosper. 
RUSSEL