Croatian general in war crimes spotlight

ZAGREB, Croatia (Reuters) -- Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan has said the United Nations war crimes tribunal wants to question the country's army chief-of-staff.

The reformist prime minister said on Monday that the government was now considering how to comply with the request.

"The tribunal prosecutors have recently asked that General Petar Stipetic be interrogated," Racan said, without indicating if Stipetic was wanted as a witness or a suspect.

A tribunal official said the tribunal was investigating a 1995 Croatian army offensive against rebel Serbs and indictments might be expected at the beginning of next year.

"Some of them may be sealed," the official said, referring to secret indictments which The Hague-based tribunal has used in the past to facilitate the arrest of suspects.

In 1995 Stipetic was a senior army commander who took part in the offensive, codenamed Storm, but his name was never linked with any of the war crimes which were committed against Serb civilians during and after the operation.

He was appointed to his current post this year after a reformist coalition ousted nationalists from power last January.

In the summer, media speculated he might be required to appear before the tribunal and he said he would readily comply.

"We are considering how to comply and under which conditions," Racan said.

If he complies, Stipetic will be the highest-ranking Croatian official involved in the tribunal's work.

Incumbent President Stipe Mesic testified before the tribunal in 1998, when he was an opposition politician.

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International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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