US embassy cable - 05ZAGREB926

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000926 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR S/WCI, EUR/SCE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/03/2015 
TAGS: KAWC, PREL, HR, War Crimes 
SUBJECT: ICTY'S DEL PONTE ON CROATIA:  COMMITMENT BUT NOT 
YET FULL COOPERATION 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Ralph Frank, Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) 
 
SUMMARY 
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1. (C) At the close of her short visit to Croatia, ICTY 
Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte briefed that she was 
convinced that GoC efforts to arrest fugitive Ante Gotovina 
are sincere but that commitment does not equal full 
cooperation 
with the Tribunal.  She indicated that by September she 
would be in a position to better assess the GoC effort and 
stated that full cooperation with the Tribunal would not 
require Gotovina to be in The Hague.  She also said that she 
will recommend that the Vukovar Three case remain in The 
Hague and not/not be transferred to either Croatia or 
Serbia and Montenegro.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (C) ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte briefed the U.S. 
and EU ambassadors on June 3 on the status of Croatia's 
cooperation with the Tribunal following her June 2 meeting in 
Zagreb with the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and 
Justice Minister. Although her comments tracked with her 
May 25 report to the UN Security Council which she will 
present 
formally on June 13, del Ponte emphasized that she had no 
doubt 
about the political commitment of PM Sanader and the GoC to 
arrest 
ICTY fugitive Ante Gotovina.  Repeating comments from her 
press briefing following her meeting with PM Sanader, del 
Ponte said that commitment is not/not the same as full 
cooperation.  Del Ponte's political advisor, Anton 
Nikoforov, summarized the point that a plan is "a plan and 
results are results."  So far results are not satisfactory 
therefore there is not full cooperation. 
 
3. (C) Del Ponte said that she is convinced that the GoC is 
seriously undertaking the measures outlined in PM Sanader's 
six point plan.  However, she declined to elaborate what 
those steps were because of their sensitive nature.  She 
said that the GoC had abandoned efforts to convince 
Gotovina to surrender voluntarily and is now working to 
destroy his support network.  Responding to the German 
ambassador's question of whether full cooperation could be 
possible without Gotovina, del Ponte said she was convinced 
the GoC is doing all that can be done, but the process is 
only just starting and it was too early to make an 
assessment.  However, when asked about next steps after 
June 13, she said that at the beginning of September, she 
would be able to make a final assessment of progress, 
regardless of whether Gotovina is in The Hague.  She added 
that Gotovina in The Hague was not/not required for full 
cooperation. 
 
4. (C) Del Ponte said she would discuss Croatia's cooperation 
with Luxembourg FM Asselborn next week.  She also drew a 
distinction between Gotovina on the one hand, and Mladic and 
Karadzic on the other: the latter two are most responsible for 
genocide, she said. 
 
5. (C) Del Ponte briefed on the materials found last 
weekend in Italy allegedly connected to Gotovina.  She said 
that the briefcase reportedly tossed from a dark BMW 
contained a photocopy of Gotovina's fake Croatian passport 
in the name of "Christian Horvat" as well as an apparently 
genuine Italian identity card with Gotovina's picture and 
the Horvat name. 
 
6. (C) On 11 bis case transfers, del Ponte said that she 
expected a decision on the Norac and Ademi cases soon.  On 
the Vukovar Three case, she said that following her visits 
to Belgrade and Zagreb, she would speak to the President of 
the trial chamber on Monday (June 6) regarding her preference 
to keep the trial in The Hague. 
FRANK 
 
 
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