VZCZCXYZ0024
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVB #0092/01 0250718
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 250718Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5579
INFO RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 1084

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000092 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR - DICARLO 
 EUR/SCE - ENGLISH, BELL 
 S/WCI - HODGKINSON 
 L/EUR - JOHNSON 
 INR - MORIN 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO NSC BRAUN 
THE HAGUE FOR C. JOHNSON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2016 
TAGS: KAWC PREL RGOV HR
SUBJECT: GOTOVINA - SHIFTING FROM MANHUNT TO DEFENSE FUND 
 
REF: A. A) 2005 ZAGREB 1940 
 
     ¶B. B) 2005 ZAGREB 1939 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Ralph Frank, reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: With the manhunt over, GoC 
attention has shifted to managing public expectations 
regarding the defense of ICTY indictee Ante Gotovina.  While 
still unofficial, the GoC clearly intends to fund at least a 
portion of Gotovina's defense team, as he was acting in his 
capacity as a general in the Croatian Army at the time of the 
alleged crimes.  The GoC will also provide the defense with 
the same access to state archives given to ICTY investigators 
and prosecutors and offer expert information during the trial 
through an Amicus Curia.  The public still does not appear to 
understand that neither the Croatian state nor Operation 
Storm is on trial and will likely look for direct (and 
inappropriate) GoC involvement in Gotovina's defense 
strategy.  The GoC, whose past rhetoric is in no small part 
responsible for these public misperceptions, will have to 
respond carefully to these political pressures while clearly 
maintaining its policy of total ICTY cooperation. 
 
¶2. (C) Thanks to these same misperceptions, the media and 
certain misguided pundits continue to portray the supposed 
U.S. role in Operation Storm as the key to Gotovina's 
vindication.  While in fact completely irrelevant to the 
defense, we expect these stories will continue to appear 
throughout the trial.  Post does not intend to comment on the 
U.S. role in Operation Storm except to point out that 
Gotovina is on trial for his individual actions, not the 
military operation.  END SUMMARY AND COMMENT. 
 
STATE ROLE IN GOTOVINA'S DEFENSE: FUNDS - YES, DIRECTION - NO 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) The GoC has not taken official action to fund 
Gotovina's defense, according to Assistant Minister of 
Justice for ICTY Cooperation Jaksa Muljacic, but clearly 
plans to do so.  The GoC is already funding the defense of 
Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac, whose indictment may be joined 
with Gotovina's in the near future.  According to Muljacic, 
the GoC will likely pay approximately 20,000 euro per month 
to each of two attorneys.  This may be supplemented by funds 
from a recently-formed private foundation called the "Fund 
for the Truth about the Patriotic War." 
 
¶4. (SBU) Head of the ICTY's Zagreb liaison office Thomas 
Osorio is surprised that Gotovina's attorneys did not seek 
funding through the Tribunal before asking for GoC 
assistance.  He speculates, though, that they are unwilling 
to open Gotovina's assets up to court scrutiny, which is 
required before receiving ICTY funds.  Government funding of 
defense, he said, is common with Hague indictees.  From the 
Tribunal's perspective, he added, the key issue will be how 
the GoC and the defense team behave. 
 
¶5. (SBU) According to Osorio, the GoC must not control 
Gotovina's defense team in any way despite the funding.  The 
danger, he said, is that attorneys will begin to represent 
the state rather than their defendant, in which case Chambers 
will dismiss them.  The Tribunal twice warned GoC-funded 
defense counsel Ante Nobilo of this during the trial of 
Tihomir Blaskic, but the GOC now appears to understand the 
necessary boundaries.  Minister of Justice Vesna Skare Ozbolt 
told PolOff shortly after Gotovina's arrest that the GoC 
would only be involved in elements of the defense that go 
beyond the individual, such as background on Operation Storm 
and the state of the country at the time. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Osorio added that the division between the defense 
team and any Amicus Curia/friends of the court that the GoC 
appoints must be "a brick wall."  The state, Osorio 
emphasized, is not party to this indictment, despite 
political rhetoric to the contrary, and Croatia must not 
attempt to use an Amicus Curia to present its case or 
Chambers will dismiss the Amicus as irrelevant.  The 
Tribunal, he said, is sensitive to this matter as it was 
created to judge individual and not collective guilt. 
Assistant Minister of Justice Muljacic has clearly heard 
Osorio's warning on this point.  While acknowledging that a 
team is already at work preparing Amicus material, Muljacic 
told PolOff that it will only be used to provide context for 
the court in matters requiring expert assessment. 
THE DEFENSE TEAM: FOCUS ON FUNDS, CREDENTIALS 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) With no set financing, Gotovina's attorneys have 
still not been able to file for accreditation before the 
ICTY, so the members of the defense team are still uncertain. 
 Most likely, Chicago-based attorney Luka Misetic will lead 
the team.  He may be joined by another American - former ICTY 
prosecutor Greg Kehoe.  As U.S. attorneys, Misetic and Kehoe 
must declare their financing to and be licensed by the 
Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Gotovina's Croatian attorneys include Marijan 
Pedisic and Marin Ivanovic, both of whom will likely have 
problems receiving ICTY accreditation.  Pedisic is subject of 
an ongoing investigation into his involvement in procuring 
the forged passports used by Gotovina and Hrvoje Petrac. 
Marin Ivanovic was the lead figure in "Operation Hague," a 
late 90s effort by the GoC to obstruct the work of the ICTY. 
FRANK