US embassy cable - 03ZAGREB1342

C O N F I D E N T I A L  ZAGREB 001342 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR EUR, EUR/SCE, EUR/BI AND S/WCI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/12/13 
TAGS: KAWC, PREL, BH, HR, UN, UNSC, War Crimes 
SUBJECT: CROATIA/ICTY: PIFWC ANTE GOTOVINA GOES PUBLIC 
 
Classified By: Poloff Robert Silberstein, reasons 1.5(b) and (d) 
 
1. (U) In an undated interview published June 10, ICTY 
fugitive PIFWC Ante Gotovina reportedly told Ivo Pukanic, 
editor of Croatian newsmagazine "Nacional," that he 
acknowledged the authority of the Hague Tribunal.  Gotovina 
said that he was willing to surrender to the ICTY on the 
condition that the indictment against him is suspended and he 
is given the opportunity to be interviewed as a suspect by 
ICTY investigators in Zagreb.  Should the OTP then decide 
that an indictment is warranted, Gotovina claimed that he 
would surrender quietly to The Hague. 
 
2. (SBU) In the interview, Gotovina criticized Croatia's 
former HDZ government, saying that it failed to inform him of 
OTP requests to interview him as a suspect in 1998.  He was 
milder in his critique of the current coalition government, 
but said it too let him down as it failed to communicate with 
him at all after coming to power in 2000.  In what can only 
be termed revisionist history, Gotovina characterized himself 
as a "victim of political manipulation" from both the right 
and the left.  (Note: in early 2001, Gotovina was one of 12 
retired and active-duty generals who published an open letter 
harshly attacking the Racan Government for its decision to 
order the arrest of Croatian Army General Mirko Norac for war 
crimes committed in the town of Gospic in 1991.  Norac was 
convicted in 2003.)  Gotovina extended an olive branch to 
President Mesic, saying that he deplored an incident at a 
military barracks in Split in May 2001 when members of the 
local guards brigade openly cursed Mesic during the 
President's visit. 
 
3. (U) Prime Minister Racan, President Mesic and Deputy Prime 
Minister Goran Granic (day-to-day manager of the GOC's 
relationship with ICTY) reiterated that Gotovina had no 
choice but to appear in The Hague as an indictee.  Racan 
offered Gotovina the GOC's full support in mounting a legal 
defense once the PIFWC surrendered. 
 
Ready to surrender? 
------------------- 
 
4. (C) ICTY Zagreb ResRep Thomas Osorio told us June 11 that 
he believed the Gotovina interview was authentic and very 
encouraging.  He interprets the interview as a clear sign 
that recent stepped-up SFOR pressure in Bosnia (tightened 
border controls, sweeps of areas in which Gotovina was 
suspected of taking shelter, detention of suspected 
collaborators) is having the desired psychological effect on 
Gotovina.  So too is pressure from the international 
community; Osorio speculated that Gotovina appears to be 
coming to the conclusion that even if the HDZ returns to 
power he would have to remain a fugitive as any Croatian 
Government would be compelled to transfer him to the ICTY. 
Therefore, Gotovina may have decided to take the plunge and 
open what are in effect negotiations with the ICTY -- with 
the press, the GOC and the Office of the President as 
intermediaries -- on the modalities of an eventual surrender. 
 
 
5. (C) Osorio said the ICTY will not entertain Gotovina's 
demand that the indictment against him be dropped or 
suspended, even temporarily.  However, once he surrenders, 
the OTP can proffer "face saving" options.  These included 
launching a complete indictment review, in which Gotovina and 
his legal team could participate, and rewording or dropping 
elements of the indictment. 
 
6. (C) Separately, Osorio's deputy told us that they have 
received no indication that the Croatian police have 
developed new leads on Gotovina's whereabouts.  In a 
statement to police on June 10, "Nacional" editor Pukanic 
refused to disclose any details about where or when the 
interview was conducted, other than to say that it was 
outside Croatia  and that there were other "witnesses" 
present. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
7. (C) Whatever his motivations for giving an interview -- 
SFOR and IC pressure, a falling out with his right-wing 
abettors or ennui of life as a fugitive -- Gotovina, by 
acknowledging ICTY's jurisdiction, has embarrassed Croatia's 
political right, which had made him the poster boy of 
opposition to ICTY cooperation.  The GOC and President Mesic 
 
already have begun to make political hay of the interview, 
hinting that had the HDZ facilitated Gotovina's interviewed 
as a suspect in 1998, ICTY might have decided not to indict 
him. 
ROSSIN 
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