Prosecution objects to Gotovina’s release

The Hague, Zagreb, August 24 (Source: B92) - The Hague Prosecution has strongly objected to Croatian general Ante Gotovina’s motion for release pending trial. The Prosecution submitted a written statement to the trial chamber according to which the motion should be denied given that "Gotovina had been on the run for four years before being tracked down and arrested on the Canary Islands in December 2005." “There is no reason to believe that Gotovina, if given the chance, would not run away again.”

On August 7, Gotovina’s defense council filed a motion for provisional release pending his trial which is set to begin, in all likelihood, in a year’s time. In the motion, the defense reminded the Hague Trial Chamber that it may still grant provisional release to the accused who did not surrender voluntarily. Well aware of the fact that the general had spent four years as a fugitive, the defense made the motion "creative" by saying that, if granted release, Gotovina would be put under constant electronic surveillance by means of an electronic bracelet, thus ensuring that he would be restricted to the confines of his house in the village of Pakoštane, near Zadar.

The motion was supplemented with guarantees proffered by the Croatian government, signed by Prime Minister Ivo Sanader himself, which has not been the case with similar motions regarding Croatian citizens that stand accused before the Hague. Zadar Archbishop Ivan Prenđa offered guarantees as well, claiming that Gotovina had “promised him he would not flee” if the Trial Chamber granted release. General Gotovina has been accused of sanctioning war crimes under his command during the 1995 Operation storm in the indictment issued in 2001.

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