Hague Prosecutor Wont Give Up On Artillery Diaries

Chief ICTY prosecutor Serge Brammertz called upon Croatia before the UN Security Council because it did not hand over artillery journals.

The chief prosecutor of the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia), Serge Brammertz, called upon Croatia on Friday before the UN Security Council because it did not hand over “key documents and archives” from the Gotovina case, and stress that those documents should be “urgently be made available”.

The case of general Ante Gotovina

“Croatia has answered most of the demands for help from the prosecution’s office. However, we still seek access to key documents and archives in the Gotovina case. In the past one and a half years, those documents were the centre of discussion with the Croatian authorities” said Brammertz, filing his regular semi-annual report to the UN Security Council, which Croatia is presiding this month.

He stressed that after a number of unsuccessful attempts to acquire documents, at the request of the prosecution, the court council of the ICTY ordered Croatia to file a detailed report in which they specify their efforts to come to the sought after documents. Brammertz stressed that “Croatia filed the report and accompanying documents”.

“From my written report, Croatia also offered additional documents that my office sought, partially fulfilling the court order” said the prosecutor.

Artillery diaries (from Operation Storm) should urgently be made available

However, he stressed, “until today, there is no knowledge about key military documents and further steps need to be made”.

“The issue remains before the court. Because the trial is under way, it is important to urgently make the documents available” said Brammertz in the part of the report that relates to Croatia.

The disputed documents that the Hague prosecution is seeking are part of the artillery diaries of the Croatian Army from the Croatian military and police liberation operation “Storm”.

The representative of the United States in the Security Council, Rosemary DiCarlo, voiced “concern” about Brammertz’s comments that the ICTY has not received the documents in the trial of Gotovina.