A Hague Summons for the General

AIM Zagreb, September 6, 2000

Stabilisation of relations between Croatia and the Hague Tribunal is nowhere in sight and it now seems that every single week some new temptation springs up. The Stipetic affair has barely calmed down - which has undoubtedly been devised in Zagreb for petty-political reasons

• and a new scandal is already in sight.

According to the latest issue of the weekly "Nacional", some three months ago the Croatian authorities received the so called subpoena for General Milivoje Petkovic, former Chief of HVO General Staff, and today General of the Croatian Army, Chief of the Ston Corps Region (on the island of Peljesac). "Nacional" claims, which was in the meantime officially confirmed, that this binding court summons for Petkovic to testify in the Hague has caused consternation among those members of the authorities which are known as advocates of the so called conditional cooperation with the International Tribunal, which is why this information was kept secret, i.e. was treated as unofficial state secret.

This, perhaps, is not the most precise interpretation of events, because it is not clear why would the Hague Tribunal keep secret something which was until now regularly published, as a rule, same as the opponents of Croatia's cooperation with the Hague Tribunal were always interested in having such information reach the public as soon as possible so as to discredit the Hague court. But, "Nacional" is certainly not mistaken about the basics, which is that the possible Petkovic's appearance in the Hague would seriously discredit the former authorities, but also the current ones which publicly declare themselves as opposers of the so called revanchism against their predecessors.

Namely, Petkovic was one of the key witnesses in the court trial of HVO and HV General Tihomir Blaskic and it is believed that it was him and no one else - with his claim that Blaskic had full commanding authority in the Lasva region at the time of mass Croatian crimes against Bosniacs – who sealed Blaskic's destiny, i.e. that he was responsible for his long (45 years) prison sentence. What is most important, using documentary evidence in its latest issue "Nacional" proved that just before he was to testify Petkovic received instructions from some still active Generals of the Croatian Army, like Davor Domazet and Ante Gotovina.

The aim was to prepare Petkovic so that with his testimony he would blacken Blaskic to the maximum, so that other potentially accused, who were even closer to the HDZ top, would fare better or get out of it. The plan was made at Tudjman's place and shorthand notes of this conversation between the late President and several Generals, fragments of which "Nacional" published, prove that the late Croatian chief of state unwillingly agreed to Petkovic's testimony but only after he received guarantees that that would not harm Croatia, i.e. more precisely its highest state leadership. "For the time being I am in favour of a decision that the Croatian Generals should not go to the Hague either as witnesses or as accused", he informed his subordinates.

He was fully supported in this opinion by Chief of General Staff of the Croatian Army, Pavao Miljavac, who was quite wrongly considered to belong to the liberal and pro-European HDZ wing. In his talk with Tudjman, Miljavac informed the President of Petkovic's stands, who had asked him to deny the permission for Petkovic's trial in the Hague because he feared that after that they would never leave him alone. "You have to know that I can testify in favour of Tihomir Blaskic, but also to the benefit of the Republic of Croatia. It is up to you to decide" - was Petkovic's message to his superiors and asked to be adequately instructed in case he had to testify, so that his trial could serve the interests of the country, or better said, state leaderships.

In other words, Petkovic presented himself as a false witness, which was probably why Tudjman finally decided to let the Hague judges have this well prepared witness. Surprisingly, he was openly supported in this by the then chief of the central Military Intelligence Service (SIS), Markica Rebic, who said that "we have no single reason to deny General Petkovic's appearance before the Hague Tribunal". And when he agreed with this, sceptical Tudjman wanted to make sure that Petkovic would not mess things up and asked: "Does their subpoena say what will they ask him?" "No one knows the questions in advance", explained Miljavac grudgingly.

"They should notify us in advance", demanded Tudjman. "That is impossible", repeated Miljavac once again. "Then he will not go", snapped Tudjman angrily. And, indeed, Petkovic did not go to the Hague, but, nevertheless, the requested testimony was given in the UN Military Base at Pleso Airport, via video-link. Now Petkovic will not be able to choose the way of and place for testifying, because the subpoena doesn't envisage making any agreements with witnesses. Moreover, it is speculated that Petkovic was invited to the Hague with a clear intention of exposing his previous perjury against Blaskic, and if that succeeds then in view of the newly discovered fact his status could easily change and he could become a suspect, i.e. the accused.

In any case, that would fit with the findings published in recent years in the Croatian press about his role in the Croatian-Bosniac war, according to which much of the blame that was, thanks to Petkovic, attributed to Blaskic, can actually be laid at Petkovic's door. That and particularly the perjury he had committed before the Hague Tribunal have quite deprived him of the aura of an honourable soldier which the present Chief of HV general Staff, Petar Stipetic, enjoys now. That is why any new Stipetic affair is out of the question, and it is hardly likely that Budisa would raise so much dust as he did then because it is known that he excelled in the loquacious and a priori defence of Blaskic (whom he considers totally "innocent").

This is corroborated by the fact that on the same day when "Nacional" published information on Petkovic's subpoena, Racan's Government confirmed it to be true and only denied one irrelevant piece of information (subpoena was not sent three months ago, but in mid July). What is readily observable is that the Government's release doesn't reflect any displeasure with Petkovic's invitation to the Hague. Moreover, there is an impression that everyone is satisfied that the departure of Croatian Generals to the Netherlands - which the Croatian Right has been furiously clamouring against for months - has started with the uncharismatic and not much liked Petkovic.

Probably aware of this, Petkovic confirmed that he had received a Hague subpoena and expressed his readiness to do everything that was asked of him. It is more than certain that he is following the Government's instructions in an obvious attempt to secure some support of the new power-holders once he gets to the Hague. He was only dissatisfied because he learned of his pending retirement from the papers - "I am only fifty years old" he complained to the press - but will obey this last order just as he did all previous ones.

All in all, everything has been done so that the subpoena served to Petkovic doesn't provoke new divisions within the ruling sixsome, which is obsessively fearing that its cooperation with the Hague might be interpreted as the betrayal of national interests. However, if the six-member team is spared new turmoils, it is quite certain that ranks of the extreme Croatian right wing will experience upheavals, which has been growing stronger thanks to the authorities' reluctance to force the dark side of the 1991-1995 war out into the open.

Marinko Culic

(AIM)