Croatia Vows to Cooperate With Tribunal

The Croatian parliament has passed a declaration that the country will fully cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

The center-left majority fully supported the document that gives the U.N.-established tribunal in The Hague jurisdiction over war crimes committed during and after the 1991-95 conflict between Croatia and Serbia that occurred following Yugoslavia’s breakup.

In the declaration passed late Friday, Croatia pledged to provide all documents in its possession that the court might require as evidence to convict indicted war criminals, as well as those that might serve to acquit them.

The declaration also said the Croatian judiciary would seek to bring to justice anyone responsible for war crimes.

This is a radical departure from the stance taken by the government of late nationalist President Franjo Tudjman.

The former regime had largely obstructed cooperation with the tribunal and refused to aid the court’s investigations of alleged crimes against Serbian civilians during two 1995 army operations.

But during a visit here in the Croatian capital this month by Carla del Ponte, the tribunal’s chief prosecutor, the new government that took power in January pledged to fully support her efforts.

The declaration passed, with five rightist votes against it. Members of the major opposition party, the Croatian Democratic Union, walked out in protest that their motion to retain jurisdiction over events during the war of independence was not accepted.