ICTY

ICTY calls on Croatia to respond to Karadzic's request in next 14 days

14.09.2011 u 15:46

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The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday requested the Croatian government to give an answer within 14 days on whether it is willing to waive Miroslav Tudjman's obligation to keep state secrets in light of the request by wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic that his defence team question the former head of the Croatian intelligence service HIS.

The ICTY invites "Croatia to respond to the Request within 14 days of receipt of this Invitation, indicating whether it is prepared to waive Miroslav Tudjman's obligation to maintain state secrets."

Karadzic, charged with genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has requested the UN tribunal in The Hague to enable him to have an interview with Tudjman as he believes that in his capacity as the HIS head, Tudjman had information about the delivery of arms to Muslims (Bosniaks) in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war.

Tudjman has said that he will not answer questions pertaining to Croatia's national security, regardless of the possibility that he could be subpoenaed by the ICTY, as by doing so he would be violating Croatia's law.

Nevertheless, Karadzic made arrangements for a meeting between his legal advisor and Tudjman in Zagreb in late August, but the meeting was cancelled after Croatia said that it would not relieve Tudjman of his general obligation to maintain state secrets during the interview with the accused's legal advisor.

According to the latest Invitation from The Hague to Zagreb, on 26 August 2011, "the Accused's legal advisor met with representatives of Croatia who indicated that no law or procedure exists allowing Croatia to free any individual from his obligation to maintain state secrets based on his status as a potential witness."

"Croatian representatives also indicated to the Accused's legal advisor that Croatia would have no objection to waiving Tudjman's obligation on a question-by-question basis during an interview were he designated as a witness in this case, and requested from the legal advisor information on the topics to be covered during such interview."

Considering that "the Accused has met the condition upon which Croatia predicated the waiver of Tudjman's obligation to maintain state secrets by designating Tudjman as a witness for his defence", the ICTY trial chamber decided to send this latest request to Croatia.