US embassy cable - 03ZAGREB1297

C O N F I D E N T I A L  ZAGREB 001297 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SCE AND S/WCI 
THE HAGUE FOR JOHNSON/KAYE/WHEATON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2013 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KAWC, HR, ICTY, UN, War Crimes 
SUBJECT: ICTY/CROATIA: GOC AGAIN BACKSLIDING ON COOPERATION? 
REF: A. ZAGREB 1165 (NOTAL) 
 
     B. ZAGREB 925 
     C. ZAGREB 867 
 
Classified By: Poloff Rob Silberstein, REASON 1.5 (B) AND (D) 
 
Summary 
------ 
 
1. (C) ICTY Zagreb ResRep Thomas Osorio told us June 5 that 
the GOC is failing to deliver on a number of commitments PM 
Racan gave Chief Prosecutor del Ponte during her mid-April 
visit to Zagreb.  Census information was incomplete, 
assistance to gain access to bank records on GOC financial 
support to breakaway Croats in Bosnia has not been 
forthcoming and the OTP still is in the dark regarding the 
circumstances surrounding the arrest of ICTY fugitive PIFWC 
Ivica Rajic in Split.  Osorio told us not to expect any new 
Croatia indictments soon; del Ponte has decided to hold off 
until she has accumulated a package of 3-5 indictments that 
she can deliver to the GOC at one time.  GOC backsliding on 
its ICTY obligations is no surprise, but it did not help that 
del Ponte took the pressure off by waxing so strongly about 
"improved" GOC cooperation during her visit in April.  End 
Summary. 
 
2. (C)  In a meeting June 5, ICTY Zagreb ResRep Thomas Osorio 
told us that, although there was a surge in cooperation 
immediately after the visit of OTP Chief Prosecutor del Ponte 
to Zagreb in mid-April, since then the GOC has failed to 
follow through on many of its commitments.  Of greatest 
concern to the OTP is the GOC's failure to provide useable 
census data, one of the major points of discussion between PM 
Racan and del Ponte in April (ref c).  (Inter alia, the OTP 
requires these data to demonstrate Serbian ethnic cleansing 
in Croatia in the Milosevic trial.)  During the del Ponte 
visit, Racan reportedly instructed the GOC to comply with the 
OTP's requests, over the objections of Deputy Prime Minister 
Goran Granic.  Shortly thereafter, the GOC provided the OTP 
with what it asserted was a complete package of data on the 
2001 census. 
 
3. (C) Osorio told us that, after careful analysis of the 
data, the OTP determined that it was inadequate.  Not only 
were vital information elements of the census database 
withheld, approximately 340,000 census records were excluded 
completely.  On May 29, Deputy Prosecutor Blewitt (del Ponte 
was in Rwanda) wrote a strongly worded letter to PM Racan 
stating that the GOC's failure to provide the census data was 
a clear failure in cooperation.  Blewitt requested immediate 
intervention to provide the requested data. 
 
4. (C) According to Osorio, the GOC also has failed to meet 
other commitments it made to del Ponte in April: 
 
-- The GOC has yet to provide the promised assistance to 
secure access to Privredna Banka records detailing Croatian 
financial transfers to the para-state of Herceg-Bosna during 
the war. 
 
-- It has failed to certify that the 1000 pages of documents 
from former Defense Minister Susak's personal files that the 
GOC provided in early May represented the entire collection. 
Osorio told us that there is reason to believe that the GOC 
submission is incomplete.  OTP analysis of the Susak papers 
suggests the existence of more documents.  Additionally, the 
number of pages that the GOC declared to the OTP varied from 
1000 to over 1300.  (Head of the GOC Office for Cooperation 
with ICTY, Frane Krnic, told the Ambassador in March that 
there were 1156 pages in the Susak collection.) 
 
-- It has not provided the OTP with any information on the 
arrest of ICTY PIFWC Ivica Rajic and on the investigation 
into the illegal PIFWC protection network that the HDZ 
government established (ref b), even though Racan explicitly 
promised del Ponte that this information would be forthcoming. 
 
5. (C) Osorio said that the only silver lining in ICTY's 
relationship with Croatia is the excellent cooperation 
provided by Croatian Chief Prosecutor Mladen Bajic.  The OTP 
recently handed over to Bajic 11 boxes of physical evidence 
that the ICTY collected in the Paulin Dvor war crimes case 
that Bajic is pursuing.  (The Osijek court is about to begin 
the trial of two retired Croatian Army officials for their 
 
role in the murder of 18 ethnic Serbs and one 
ethnic-Hungarian in the town of Paulin Dvor in Eastern 
Slavonia.  Slavko Zadnik, one of Bajic's deputies, tells us 
that another six persons may be indicted for the crime. 
Others, including former HDZ intelligence and government 
officials may be indicted for covering-up the crime.) 
 
No new indictments soon 
----------------------- 
 
6. (C) Osorio said that del Ponte did not sign and forward 
any new indictments to the ICTY judge for approval prior to 
her departure on a three week trip to Rwanda in late May. 
According to Osorio, del Ponte has decided to wait until all 
Croatia indictments are ready.  Her plan is to deliver a 
package of 3-5 indictments at one time to "minimize the 
political shock on the GOC" (for more detail on the potential 
new indictments see ref a).  Osorio said that the net result 
is that we should not anticipate any new Croatian indictments 
any time soon. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
7. (C) No surprises here: the brief GOC-OTP honeymoon after 
del Ponte's mid-April visit to Zagreb is over.  The Croatian 
Government has returned to its disappointing but familiar 
routine of shirking cooperation once the pressure is off. 
While the GOC clearly deserves the lion's share of the blame 
for not delivering fully and consistently on its ICTY 
commitments, del Ponte also bears some responsibility for her 
rollercoaster public relations approach.  In April, del Ponte 
was all sweetness and light, announcing that "a very positive 
development of cooperation had been achieved."  Less than two 
months later the OTP is again complaining that the GOC has 
failed to live up to its commitments.  Under such 
circumstances it would not be surprising if the press -- and 
even some of her IC supporters -- might begin to question del 
Ponte's credibility. 
ROSSIN 
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