Croatia - ICTY

Brammertz on Croatia's cooperation in report to UN Security Council

23.11.2010 u 23:05

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The Chief Prosecutor of the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Serge Brammertz, in his latest report to the UN Security Council has welcomed the efforts by the Croatian authorities in investigating missing military documents relating to 1995's Operation Storm, noting that there are "inconsistencies" in the investigation and that in the last six months his office has received none of the requested documents and no information as to their whereabouts.

In the introductory part of the report Brammertz says that "Croatia is generally responsive to the OTP's (Office of the Prosecutor) requests for assistance, which are answered adequately and access is provided to witnesses and evidence," adding that the OTP's request for important military documents related to Operation Storm "is still pending."

Noting that on July 26, 2010 the Trial Chamber in the Gotovina, Cermak and Markac case declined to order Croatia to produce documents due to uncertainties surrounding the whereabouts of the documents requested, Brammertz says that the Trial Chamber emphasised that Croatia still has a general duty to cooperate with the ICTY regarding the documents in question.

He says that in the past six months his office has received three reports from the inter-agency Task Force, established to locate or account for the missing military documents, saying that it has continued its administrative investigations into the missing documents.

"The Task Force has begun to explore important new avenues in the investigation that the OTP communicated to the Task Force over a year ago. While the OTP welcomes these efforts by the Croatian authorities, the Task Force's reports reveal inconsistencies and raise questions that have not been resolved," Brammertz says in his report, adding that the Croatian authorities have acknowledged this and expressed commitment to continue their work.

"None of the outstanding military documents were provided to the OTP and no information was given regarding their possible whereabouts during the reporting period," Brammertz says.

"With completion of proceedings in the Gotovina et al. trial, and a Judgement expected soon, the OTP urges the authorities to continue the administrative investigation and to fully account for the missing documents," he concluded.

Brammertz submitted a written report on the work of his office in the last six months on November 17 and was due to deliver an oral report to the UN Security Council on December 6.