US embassy cable - 05ZAGREB429

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000429 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE - KABUMOTO, BENEDICT, PFEUFFER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KAWC, MK, HR, War Crimes 
SUBJECT: ICTY PREDICTS NO PROBLEMS IN BOSKOSKI TRANSFER 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Ralph Frank for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d). 
 
1. (C) Thomas Osorio, head of the ICTY Liaison Office in 
Zagreb, told PolOff March 16 the court expects no problems 
with the transfer of Ljube Boskoski, former Macedonian 
Minister of Interior, from detention in Croatia to The Hague. 
 The GoC's Office for ICTY Cooperation confirmed for Post 
that the indictment released on March 15 has been forwarded 
with an arrest warrant and transfer order to the Pula County 
Court where Boskoski has been held in the detention center 
since August 2004 under Macedonian charges for the 2002 
killing of seven economic migrants from Pakistan and India 
during his tenure as minister. 
 
2. (C) "This is a dream come true for Croatia," Osorio said, 
referring to how the transfer to the ICTY will resolve 
Croatia's inability to extradite Boskoski directly back to 
Macedonia due to his Croatian citizenship.  "There will be no 
political resistance to this," he added.  The only wrinkle in 
the case will be Boskoski's likely appeal of the extradition. 
 In this case the ICTY will for the first time have to go 
through a complete extradition process, which could last 
several months.  There are, however, no legal barriers to the 
extradition, and the Supreme Court is certain to uphold an 
extradition order. 
 
FRANK 
 
 
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