EU-hopeful Croatia says in clear on war crimes
(ZAGREB) - Croatia believes it has fulfilled its UN war crimes obligations as part of its bid to become the next country to join the European Union, a minister said Friday.
Last month Croatia sent the UN war crimes tribunal a report about files missing for the trial of former Croatian general Ante Gotovina, Justice Minister Ivan Simonovic told journalists.
"Croatia estimates that by (submitting) this report, it has fulfilled its obligations" towards the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), he stressed.
Cooperation with ICTY based in The Hague is a key criteria for Croatia's bid to become the European Union's 28th member by 2011.
Simonovic said Zagreb would soon demand a panel of judges trying Gotovina and two other former generals "rule whether Croatia is conscientiously fulfilling their requests."
The documents contain details on the use of artillery by Croatian forces during a military offensive that ended its four-year independence war in 1995.
The operation killed around 350 civilians and caused more than 200,000 Serbs to flee Croatia.
"We forwarded to The Hague the documents that we have found," during a probe led within defense, interior and justice ministries, Deputy Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said.
However, "some documents never existed and some cannot be found while for some we have information that they were destroyed," she added.
The Croatian minister was speaking ahead of a report that UN chief war crimes prosecutor Serge Brammertz is due to issue to the UN Security Council on the country's cooperation with the ICTY.
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