|
Political Crisis in Croatia Over Handover Of War Crimes Suspects
ZAGREB, July 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Croatian government has been plunged into crisis after deciding to follow in Serbia's footsteps and hand over two war crimes suspects indicted by the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, news agencies reported.
After a stormy eight-hour cabinet meeting interspersed with breaks for consultations with top political leaders from the majority and opposition, Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan said late Saturday he had decided to hand over to the justice ministry requests for the arrest and transfer to The Hague of war crimes suspects, the French news agency AFP reported.
Four ministers -- Deputy Prime Minister Goran Granic, Defence Minister Jozo Rados, Economy Minister Goranko Fizulic and Science and Technology Minister Hrvoje Kraljevic -- resigned following the meeting.
After the four ministers, all of the Social Liberal Party (HSLS) walked out of the cabinet. Racan said 19 out of the 22 government members had backed the arrests of the suspects, two abstained and one voted against.
Racan said the Social Liberals resigned due to a "moral conflict" between the government's decision and their party's position.
The Social Liberals have 23 members in the 151-seat parliament, with the strongly nationalist Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the former ruling party, holding another 41.
Racan told a press conference he would request a vote of confidence from parliament "very quickly".
If the Social Liberals decide to oppose the government, Racan's Social Democrats face defeat in the confidence vote, according to the BBC online service.
Mass demonstrations are further expected ahead of the confidence vote in support of the suspects, who have not been named but are thought to have been commanders during the wars which followed the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
Racan did not name those incriminated by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), but the Croatian press has said they were two generals accused of alleged atrocities against Serbs during the 1991-95 conflict.
Croatian newspapers have named the two men as General Rahim Ademi and retired general Ante Gotovina, who commanded Croatian forces during the conflict with Serbia. They are suspected of allegedly massacring hundreds of Serb civilians and destroying a dozen villages.
Media reports said Ademi could be indicted for crimes committed in 1993, in the so-called Medak pocket in central Croatia.
Croatian forces won back the separatist-held area, but during their withdrawal from the area, which was then left under the authority of U.N. forces, several dozen Serb civilians were killed and a dozen Serb villages burned down.
Gotovina is facing charges of crimes committed against ethnic Serb civilians during and in the aftermath of an August 1995 military operation in which Zagreb regained control of its occupied territory.
Racan said the government had "preferred to choose the way of cooperation to that of confrontation" with Europe, to preserve its hopes of being accepted into the European Union. Croatia did not want to be isolated as it was under former president Franjo Tudjman.
"To turn down the request from The Hague would be to plunge Croatia into the abysses of the Balkans conflict," Racan told a news conference.
The main adversary of cooperation with The Hague remains the biggest rightist opposition party of late president Franjo Tudjman, the HDZ.
The HDZ says anyone who fought in the war to reconquer Croatian territory from the Serbs should be regarded as a hero and never handed over to the ICTY.
The HDZ said it was impossible to put "victims and aggressors on the same footing" even before the names of the new suspects have become public.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) handed over two sealed indictments to Croatia a month ago, and on Friday Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte visited Croatia to emphasize the importance of cooperation with the ICTY.
Del Ponte, who Friday had long talks with Racan, declared that the court did not mean to "criminalize" the "patriotic war" carried out by Croatia but only to punish criminal acts of war committed by particular individuals.
Del Ponte has called the handover of suspects the ultimate test for any government of its genuine cooperation with the ICTY.
She referred to last month's decision by Serbia to hand over former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to the ICTY in the Netherlands.
It will be the first time Croatians were handed to the ICTY for alleged war crimes committed on Croatian soil.
|
