THE WHIP OF THE HAGUE SNAPPING OVER CROATIA

AIM Zagreb, April 11, 1996

The Hague Tribunal has become a significant factor of the internal political scene of Croatia. It divided the ruling party and it is nowadays the line along which it is splitting. The opposition is mostly sitting on the fence concerning this matter, leaving the Croat Democratic Community (HDZ) to deal with this hot potato. There is no more joy and gloating in public which welcomed news about the first indictments against Serb criminals; every new indictment, even when against the Serbs, is now received with uneasiness and anxiety: who will be next here. Among all possible suspects, and even among the ruling circles, it seems that the feeling is growing that the noose is tightening. The head of the lawyers' team which will defend the Croats at the Tribunal, Zvonimir Hodak, publicly warns, after the first experience from the Hague: "Let us not forget, the Tribunal has a long whip in its hand".

Possible candidates for the Hague react in two ways - they have either withdrawn and almost do not appear in public at all, at least not in the tyrannical manner which was so characteristic of them. Or they deny everything concerning the Hague Tribunal, moralizing about its hypocrisy and insincerity of the world, and insisting on "untouchable Croat sovereignty" and "preservation of dignity of the Croat people".

For example, general Slobodan Praljak who was commander of General Staff of the Croat Defence Council (HVO) at the time of the Croat-Bosniac war, and allegedly deserves special "credit" for demolition of the Old Bridge in Mostar, angrily claims that Croatia often "unbearably easily accepts international demands". Stressing the example of France, he says that its nuclear experiments are condemned by the entire world, but that that did not make French waver, "they are insolent with the whole world and there is nothing anyone can do about it". General Praljak advocates that the Croats should act in this way, because as he says, small nations must be "even more haughty than the great". Instead, the general explains, Croatia has agreed to cooperation with the Hague Tribunal in order to be able to become a member of the Europe, and he identifies that, literally, with "the possibility of more convenient purchase of high-quality women's sanitary napkins".

Similar to such staggering from one nonsense to another, the official policy goes from one mistake to another concerning the Hague Tribunal. At first, they claimed that those who defended themselves - and the Croat party according to this version waged a defensive war - could not have even committed any crimes. Then, for a long time they kept convincing the Croat public that Croatia, pursuant to its Constitution, could not extradite anyone, so it is no wonder that a part of the public was confused when draft law on cooperation with the Tribunal appeared in the Assembly, which explicitly stated that such extraditions would be possible. When the first indictments were issued against a group of Bosnian Croats, Franjo Tudjman on that vry day transferred general Tihomir Blaskic from HVO and promoted him to inspector of the Croat Army, which was understood by the international community not only as a confession that Zagreb had the authority over HVO, but also as direct provocation of the international Tribunal and its justice. Finally, Franjo Tudjman linked the destiny of the indicted Croats with that of the indicted Serbs and the Muslims, and publicly he also declared himself in favour of a specific general pardon in the name of a new beginning. "It is much more important to create conditions for coexistence of those who waged war against each other until recently", the Croat President said, than to sentence criminals.

The thesis that to forget crimes means to create a precondition for peace and coexistence is quite contrary to the stance of the international community which founded the Hague Tribunal exactly because it believes that without punishing crimes there can be no peace in the long run. But the perversity that those who have waged war claiming that joint life was not possible, are now in the name of coexistence advocating general amnesty (and probably amnesia too) is a logical result of the Dayton construction which forced the fathers of the war to become parents of the peace. In any case, it is obvious that Croatia would gladly skip the whole thing. In fact, it would be quite content if the Hague Tribunal proved a complete failure or were shut down. Perhaps it even counts on it, but it is obviously trying to buy time. A semi-solution was found for Tihomir Blaskic who appeared at the Tribunal allegedly voluntarily, but all things considered there was not much free will there. General Blaskic allegedly spent some time under house arrest in Zagreb, and he broke down when Minister Susak explained to him that he simply had to go to the Tribunal.

There was another attempt to delay adoption of the Hague Law, so its draft was not put on the agenda of this month's session of the Assembly. However, the Council of Europe conditioned its discussion on reception of Croatia, scheduled for April 24, by prior adoption of this law, so that it will be presented to the deputies next week, after all. Before that, Croatia would much rather see what course Blaskic's trial will take. It did not like what it has seen going on in the Hague in the past few days. The Tribunal was not too impressed by Blaskic's willingness either. He was permitted to defend himself from freedom which differs from the jail only by the fact that it costs a lot of money. Namely, general Blaskic is accomodated at a secret location, which he is not allowed to leave, where he cannot be visited, nor receive mail, not even phone. Well-informed sources claim that all expenses in the Hague are paid from the budget of Croatia.

Zagreb is especially concerned about everything that was heard at the public trial to Ivica Rajic who is tried for the crime in Stupni Do in his absence. Prosecutors from the Hague insisted on Croatia being connected with developments in Bosnia. They claimed that HVO was controlled by Zagreb, or verbatim, "it was a Croat military agency in Bosnia", that is, "when the crime in Stupni Do was committed, Croatia was the occupying force in Bosnia". Besides, they clearly showed that at the time, the Croats and the Serbs closely cooperated. Two witnesses, members of UNPROFOR from Sweden, testified that Croat units which committed the crime in Stupni Do had arrived across the region controlled by the Serbs. They say that could not have been possible without agreement of the military commander of the Bosnian Serbs, general Ratko Mladic.

How to prevent the Hague ball unwind without entangling Zagreb - that is the main Tudjman's preoccupation concerning the Tribunal. It is preceded by no lesser problem - how to squeeze between Scylla and Charybdis. If he fails to cooperate with the Hague, Croatia could be marked as a "criminal" country which is just happening to Yugoslavia. Foreign Minister Granic does not even conceal that in that case there is the threat of introduction of sanctions. If he should after all decide to extradite the indicted - Tudjman is threatened by a conflict with his own rightists, especially the extremists from Herzegovina. Rajic appeared on Mostar television and he was introduced as a Croat knight.

Many believe that Croatia has missed the opportunity to get rid of the mortgage of guilt for the war with the Muslims. Had it reacted to the crimes committed by the Croat party instead of concealing them, minimized them and justified them - the position of Croatia would have been much more favourable. Even attorney Zvonimir Hodak admits: "Had Croatia reacted more promptly, had it taken to court the most obvious incriminations and convicted them, the Hague would have probably taken it into account". But, Croatia failed to do it, so it can do nothing but fear of the whip from the Hague against which Zvonimir Hodak is warning now.

JELENA LOVRIC