Almost a year after the defence for Croatian army general Ante Gotovina appealed against members of his investigative team not enjoying immunity from proceedings in Croatia, the Appeals Chamber of the Hague war crimes tribunal accepted the appeal and ordered discontinuation of all proceedings and investigations that have been conducted against members of Gotovina's defence team in Croatia, as well as the return of the material seized from them.
The Appeals Chamber "orders the Trial Chamber to issue an order... to Croatia in which it will request Croatia to: 1. Cease all criminal proceedings against members of the Gotovina Defence for acts performed in the fulfilment of their official function before the Tribunal; 2. Cease and desist from all current and future investigative activities against members of the Gotovina Defence for acts performed in the fulfilment of their official function before the Tribunal, including searches of their persons or premises; and 3. Return, as soon as practicable, all material seized from members of the Gotovina Defence, including but not limited to documents, computers, CD-ROMs and diskettes," reads the ruling of the Appeals Chamber published in The Hague on Tuesday.
The Appeals Chamber notes that members of the Gotovina Defence, including investigators, enjoy functional immunity, reads the decision adopted on February 14, adding that because members of Gotovina's defence enjoy functional immunity, "Croatia is barred from continuing criminal proceedings and taking any further investigative steps against them."
The trial chamber in Gotovina's case in March 2010 turned down a motion by his defence to ban an investigation and criminal proceedings against members of his defence team in Croatia.
Gotovina's defence team claimed that all its members must enjoy immunity and the trial chamber at the time acknowledged that there existed a problem with that, but confined itself to expressing concern about the lack of a legal instrument that would give functional immunity to members of Gotovina's defence.
Gotovina's defence team appealed against investigations and proceedings conducted against its members Marin Ivanovic, Jozo Ribicic and Zeljko Hucic and the seizure of documents. The trial chamber ordered at the time that the documents seized from Gotovina's team could be inspected under a special procedure, but the Appeals Chamber ruled that the documents had to be returned to the defence.
The Zagreb Municipal Court in July 2010 acquitted Ivanovic, an attorney and member of Gotovina's defence team, of the charges that he concealed or destroyed archival materials.
