THE HAGUE KNOCKING ON CROATIAN DOOR AGAIN

AIM Zagreb, 29 December, 1998

Relations of Zagreb with the world have become strained to the point of breaking again, and probably never before has it been so clear who is tightening the strings and for what reason. It was Franjo Tudjman at the already notorious opening of the "Ban Franjo Jelacic" war school where he promoted deliberate estrangement with the international community as a possible leitmotif of the whole pre-election year which lies ahead. Two things were emphasized the most in this speech. With a threatening voice Tudjman revealed that he was ready even to use arms to prevent SFOR from entering Martin Brod, the bordering town on the river Una which is claimed by both Croatia and B&H. The other threat uttered by Tudjman did not involve weapons but included quite a sufficient amount of political explosive not to lag behind the previous one. Tudjman confirmed what was just speculated about

• that an indictment was being prepared for "five or six" generals of the Croatian army for crimes committed after military operations Storm and Flash, but also a few years prior to them, in Gospic.

Having stated with pomp that the Hague Tribunal was incriminating the most sacred battles of the Croatian liberation war and that it was preparing indictments against "all of us", Tudjman said that Croatia would not permit that, moreover that it would accept the challenge. Soon after that it turned out how. At a regular press conference of the Croat Democratic Community (HDZ) it was announced that a discussion would be initiated in the assembly on cooperation with the Hague Tribunal which implied a clear intention to either freeze or suspend relations with the Tribunal, if necessary. But those who this message was addressed to did not seem to be impressed. Very soon after Tudjman's belligerent speech, a reply arrived in which international representatives made it clear that they would not yield because of threats, but on the contrary, that they would pay them back in their own coin.

Therefore a few days after this speech, a motorised unit of SFOR enetered Martin Brod and sent away a small unit of Croatian border police. At the same time a reply from the Hague arrived which included news that charges were raised against two defamed "warlords" from Herzegovina, Mladen Naletilic alias Tuta and Vinko Martinovic alias Stele. This indictment was exceptional for a few things, two of which are significant precedents which could significantly affect further course of trials in the Hague. For the first time charges were raised against suspects from Herzegovina - they have all been from central Bosnia so far - which is the heart of Herzeg-Bosnia, where most of the crimes were initiated or inspired.

Besides, opening of the Herzegovina dossier is much more compromising for the official Zagreb which could be directly linked to massive ethnic cleansing, concentration camps and executions that were present there. There was no surprise when, after the news had come from the Hague, one of the closest Tudjman's associates Ivic Pasalic declared that in case indictments broadened to Croatia, primarily to the five or six generals of the Croatian Army mentioned by Tudjman, relatioins with the Hague Tribunal would be re-examined, and the law on cooperation with it may even be derogated.

The other precedent which resulted from this indictment is that it is raised against perpetrators who are already on trial, or were sentenced, which means that the old warning has been effectuated that the Hague Tribunal would take away trials from national courts if it decided that they were not credible, that is, not up to the committed war crimes. That is exactly the case with trials to Naletilic and Martinovic, the former of which is a real farce because Tuta is tried only for one case of kidnapping and one case of encouraging murder. At first sight the trial to Stela differs from this one, but in fact it is equally a farce. He was tried for murder of Jasmina Djukic from Mostar, allegedly for gain, so he was unlawfully sentenced to eight years in prison despite insufficient evidence and even the alibi Stela had. The same logic of staged trials affected Stela just as it pardoned Tuta. In the Hague there can be no such "adjusting" of justice, because both Tuta and Stela are charged with by far bigger number of crimes than at the trials in Zagreb. The former who was the commander of the so-called punitive brigade, is charged of having commanded this unit when it attacked Bosniac population in villages Doljani and Sovici in Jablanica municipality in April 1993, he is also suspected of the arrest of a large number of Bosniacs in Mostar, Capljina and Stolac who were transferred to concentration camps in Dretelj and at the helicopter field.

Naletilic and Martinovic are charged with the total of 39 criminal charges, part of which are crimes against humanity, part of which are violations of the Geneva Convention, and part of which are violations of war law and customs. All these acts according to the indictment were committed during the Croat-Bosniac war and brutal acts of ethnic cleansing of Bosniacs in Herzegovina (Mostar, Jablanica, Konjic, Prozor) and central Bosnia. As it is a notorious fact that this was one of the strategic goals of the Croatian policy in B&H - created by Tudjman and the late Gojko Susak - it is clear that the line of responsibility might this time surge farther up than ever before and as a noose wind up around the neck of the current state and military leadership of Croatia.

It is true, though, that in the mentioned interview in which he announced the possibility of suspending cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, Ivic Pasalic rejected the possibility that the line of responsibility might tighten around Tudjman's neck, too. This, indeed, does not seem very probable, at least not before firm evidence is made public that the international community intends to open the dossier of the main instigators of the war in ex-Yugoslav space. But it is evident from Tudjman's behavior that he is disturbed by the possibility that the Hague indictments may take away his most confidential military perpetrators of his policy of division and dismemberment of B&H which would be his personal greatest defeat as well as that of his policy. There is no bigger punishment for Tudjman, perhaps not even in comparison with what might happen to him if he actually found himself in the dock in the Hague.

This possibility is especially connected with the fact which was recently revealed by the defence council of general Tihomir Blaskic Anto Nobilo that evidence existed on direct participation of regular army of Croatia in conflicts in Herzegovina (not in central Bosnia because units of the Croatian Army progressed no further than Prozor). Nobilo warns that raising charges against Tuta and Stene is an expected punishment for several-year long evading of the state leadership of Croatia and its judiciary to appropriately punish their own criminals.

This implies that similar embarrassment could be avoided if Croatian judiciary began operating as expected. But at least until the elections Tudjman will probably continue to "be bold" with the Hague Tribunal and the international community, in order to attract as many nationally impassioned voters which he obviously intends to rely on the most in the next parliamentary elections. Therefore, Croatian mortgage with the international tribunal will continue to increase until it reaches the critical point when it will become impossible to influence the final denouement from Zagreb.

MARINKO CULIC