Hidden Documents
Where is Croatia’s Former Minister of Justice, Vesna Skare-Ozbolt, hiding documents which would clear General Ante Gotovina of all charges?
By Domagoj Margetic
Journalist, Publicist
ICTY Indictee
March 5, 2006
The dismissal of Vesna Skare-Ozbolt from the Ministry of Justice by Prime Minister Sanader, brings forth the issue of key documents Skare-Ozbolt stated herself she was hiding and would directly have assisted General Ante Gotovina’s defense at The Hague.
According to sources in Croatia’s Ministry of Finance who are responsible for documenting records, none of these documents have been submitted by Skare-Ozbolt following her termination, nor have they been transferred to the newly appointed Minister, Ana Lovrin, who replaced Skare-Ozbolt. This has given rise to the suspicion that Skare-Ozbolt made an agreement with ICTY Chief Prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, to handle these documents for The Hague (so the documents remain hidden); that is, submit certain documents to The Hague without following a lawful and legal procedure so that no record exists regarding the transfer of documents by the Ministry of Justice. Moreover, there has been no public statement issued by either Skare-Ozbolt or members of the General’s defense team regarding the transfer of these documents upon the capture of General Gotovina. Sources close to the former minister suggest that the documents were kept hidden in her office file cabinet, but now are no longer there, which indicates that Skare-Ozbolt has stolen the documents and treat them as her private property.
The meeting with the Minister of Justice on October 7, 2005
On October 7, 2005, for unexplained reasons, the ex-minister invited retired Croatian Army General, Ante Roso and myself – although, to this day, I do not understand why I was invited – to a meeting to discuss resolving the issue of General Gotovina and his ICTY indictment. Both General Roso and I believe we were called to this meeting because we respect Croatian institutions and public order which we helped to create, hence, we decided to reply to the invitation from the Minister of Justice and attend this meeting as part of our civic duty.
Vesna Skare-Ozbolt admitted that she holds secret documents in her office files cabinet
According to the request made by the Minister herself, the meeting was organized by her office and was to be held in the strictest confidence Present at this meeting were myself, Gen. Roso, Skare-Ozbolt and her Secretary of Cabinet, Kresic. Skare-Ozbolt asked Gen.Roso, “How are we going to resolve the issue of General Gotovina?” “Easily,” Gen. Roso replied, “I know how to resolve this issue.” “Let me know how,” Skare-Ozbolt replied. Gen. Roso then said, “The Hague must drop the indictment against Gen. Gotovina, Croatia’s Ministry of Interior must remove his name from the wanted list and cease the hunt for him, and I am convinced that the General will then come to Croatia!” Of course, the former-minister did not find this proposal interesting. After a few sentences she had mumbled in a courtesy, which had absolutely nothing to do with solving this issue, and her most significant comment made was that she was in possession of secret documents which would help with Gen. Gotovina’s defense. “Here, General, I have in my possession (and with her hand she points to the file cabinets along the wall on the left side from the entrance to her office) which I secretly gathered and which I will not give to anyone, but which could help and which are key for Gen. Gotovina’s defense! I am not giving those documents to anyone! Not even all members of the government know that I have these documents.” At this point, she was screaming. Gen. Roso replied with a logical question, “Why haven’t you given these documents to the General’s attorneys for his defense, or at the minimum, allowed the attorneys to review the documents?” Skare-Ozbolt kept repeating how she used private connections to gather the documents and will not give them to anyone.
Were officials at the highest levels of the Croatian government involved in a plan to eliminate General Gotovina?
Gen. Roso told the ex-minister how there were indications that even at the highest levels of the government there were implications, in three different plans, to eliminate Gen. Gotovina. “If he [Gen.Gotovina] were to show up alive, you would kill him. Do not play a fool,” said Gen. Roso to Skare-Ozbolt. She wasn’t surprised. I even observed her facial expression as Gen. Roso said those words, and it was clear that plans to eliminate Gen. Gotovina were no news to her but rather of no concern. Furthermore, Skare-Ozbolt proposed a plan where Gen. Gotovina would give himself up to The Hague and Del Ponte, and not to Croatia, because “it’s better for us this way.” Naturally, the meeting ended with nothing resolved on the General’s issue; however, the former minister also admitted she was purchasing forged Bosnian Serb documents which would serve as authentic documentation from Krajina Serbs, at the cost of 500 Euros per page. Those documents were actually reproduced by Serbs from the Banja Luka region, stamped, and were sold to Skare-Ozbolt’s people, who would treat them as credible documentation. It is unknown if and how much profit she made from these transactions (we can only assume she must have benefited from this illegal and dirty business in one way or another), but what is certain is that she made a complete mess from documents which may further aggravate Gen. Gotovina’s position in The Hague. At the end of the meeting, Gen. Roso requested from Skare-Ozbolt in writing that she hand over the documents to Gen. Gotovina’s lawyers, and she defiantly replied, “No.”
Ivo Sanader knew there were hidden documents crucial for General Gotovina’s defense
Since Sanader is aware of these secret documents, this suggests that Skare-Ozbolt and Sanader are in mutual agreement and working together to ensure these documents, which would refute the false indictment against Gen. Gotovina, never reach The Hague. Why has not Skare-Ozbolt sent these documents to The Hague?! What in fact did she send? And why is it in the government’s interest to sabotage the defense of Gen. Gotovina? It seems this government is absolutely not interested in defending the truth of the Homeland War. It is imperative these documents are released as soon as possible because Sander and Skare-Ozbolt could possibly destroy these documents and the defense of Gen. Gotovina cannot be prepared adequately. Alternatively, the question to the ex-minister can be put this way: “Did you and Carla Del Ponte agree to hide these documents together?” If not with Del Ponte then, with whom did you embark on this dirty business of falsifying the truth about the role of Gen. Gotovina in the Homeland War and hid these documents which are clearly vital for his defense before The Hague tribunal?