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Six Croats Released from The Hague Detention at Intervention of M. Albright
Six military and political leaders of the former Herceg Bosna were released from
The Hague detention unit at intervention of Madeleine Albright as a secret
lobbyist and unofficial envoy of the U.S. Government.
Retired, but still influential, the U.S. State Secretary interceded in favor of
Jadranko Prlic. However, as the legal modus was not found for exemption of an
individual, it was decided in The Hague to make it possible for the remaining five
Croats to defend themselves while on bail. This piece of information was delivered
to “Vecernji List” from the unofficial sources within The Hague Tribunal.
At the same time it explains a mysterious difference in The Hague’s treatment
of the so called BiH group of Croats and Croatian Generals, Ivan Cermak and Mladen
Markac, who were still detained in Scheveningen. Different Hague’s destinies of
Prlic and his codefendants, including Cermak and Markac, are explained by more
strained relations between The Hague Tribunal Prosecutor’s Office and Tribunal
itself. Allegedly estimating that The Hague prosecutors engaged too often in direct
negotiations with the indictees and governments of their countries, the last episode
in the Cermak-Markac case was ended by their detaining in The Hague Detention Unit.
This time the Tribunal Council allegedly did not accept the agreement between
the prosecutors and defense on releasing them to defend themselves while on bail.
Source: VECERNJI LIST (HDZ); Evening Paper,
Croatian national daily from Zagreb; 09/19/04
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