After the announcement of the deputy Prime Minister Goran Granic that he would propose to the government to reject the indictment against General Bobetko as unconstitutional, it is becoming increasingly likely that Croatia will for the first time clash with the Hague Tribunal in one concrete case. Such a decision would undeniably provoke the Hague Tribunal and its chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte to report Croatia to the UN Security Council, which, as the founder of the Tribunal, may take measures against Croatia, from diplomatic modes of pressure to economic sanctions.
It has been obvious since the start of the Bobetko case that Croatia intended to oppose the Hague. The indictment was first sent back to the Hague from the closed session of the Government, because of a wrong address, and when the prompt reply arrived, with the correct address, there was no one left to receive the indictment. It was past 5 o'clock on Friday and representatives of the tribunal will have to wait until Monday. The government will not discuss the new indictment before Tuesday.
However, local legal experts are unanimous in their conclusion that the government cannot judge the constitutional character of anything including the indictment against Janko Bobetko. Nevertheless, according to the Constitutional Law About Cooperation With the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, the Government has the obligation to consider whether the requests they receive from the tribunal are in accordance with the tribunal's statute and rules of conduct, and whether they violate the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia.
Although the Government cannot on its own make a decision whether the indictment violates the constitution, it may request that the Constitutional Court do so. Similarly, legal experts believe, the request of General Gotovina's lawyers that his Hague indictment also be rejected as unconstitutional, like Bobetko's, is legitimate.
Government's decision to send the indictment to the Constitutional Court would certainly include a moratorium on all further actions in connection with the indictment, until the Constitutional Court reaches its final decision. It would not make sense to send the indictment to the Constitutional Court and at the same time arrest General Bobetko.
Such a decision would make it possible that Carla Del Ponte would report Croatia to the UN Security Council for lack of cooperation. However, local legal experts are convinced that a swift reaction by Del Ponte would be hasty given the reasons for Croatia's temporary moratorium on implementation of the arrest warrant issued by the Tribunal.
However, the UN Security Council must be unanimous to make decisions, and a veto by any one of five permanent Security Council members is enough to block any decision. Until recently it was given that the UN Security Council would have applied pressure on Croatia, but after the founding of the permanent International Criminal Tribunal, this summer, situation is slowly changing.
The USA, one of permanent UN Security Council members, is refusing to recognize the new, permanent Hague Court for War Crimes and trying to push as many countries as possible to sign bilateral treaties that block extradition of American soldiers to the permanent War Crimes Court in the Hague. The American diplomacy is also consistently repeating that they do not want that trials of their citizens be politically motivated. That particular reason is also behind the refusal of the Croatian government to extradite General Bobetko.