3 February 2005. Thanks to A.

[Date and source of article unknown.]

NEW YORK - Insiders at the United Nations in New York are buzzing over allegations that could rock the UN war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague. 

Evidence has been presented to the United Nations in New York that Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte may have knowingly submitted forged documents to the UN tribunal in order to obtain the indictment of Croat General Ante Gotovina, accused of war crimes against Serb civilians in the aftermath of a 1995 military campaign known as Operation Storm. Del Ponte then allegedly engaged in a subsequent cover-up to prevent any investigation of the authenticity of the documents. 

The UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services is examining whether, as part of the alleged cover-up, Del Ponte ignored the requests for witness protection of a Croatian witness who participated in the creation of the forged documents and who had come forward to provide the tribunal with evidence of the forgery. 

The Croatian witness was subsequently killed in Croatia after Del Ponte ignored the witness's requests for protection. 

The forged documents at issue concern transcripts of a meeting on 31 July 1995 between former Croatian president Franjo Tudjman and senior members of his military leadership, including Gotovina.  In the transcript, Tudjman is recorded to have urged his military commanders to "hit the Serbs so hard that they will disappear forever." Four days later, Croatian forces under Gotovina's command launched a massive military operation known as Operation Storm that resulted in the flight of over 200,000 Serbs from the Krajina region of Croatia. 

Del Ponte obtained a copy of this transcript from the office of current Croatian president Stipe Mesic and submitted it to the tribunal as evidence to obtain the indictment of Gotovina.  Del Ponte argued to the tribunal that the transcript proves Gotovina's primary objective in Operation Storm was to ethnically cleanse the Serb population from Croatia.

New evidence, however, suggests that the transcripts may have been forged in March 2001 by officials in Mesic's office with the intent of discrediting Gotovina, a political opponent of Mesic's. 

There is serious concern at the UN that Del Ponte may have known prior to submitting the transcripts to the tribunal that the transcripts were in fact forgeries, and that Del Ponte has complicated matters by failing to disclose the forgery to the tribunal. 

Reportedly, several witnesses who attended the 31 July 1995 meeting between Tudjman and Croatia's top military leadership have told Del Ponte that the transcripts are inaccurate. 

The most explosive charges, however, concern witnesses who work in Mesic's office and who contacted Del Ponte in the summer of 2004 requesting to testify that they had participated in the creation of the forgeries. 

One of these insider witnesses allegedly sought witness protection measures from Del Ponte, claiming that his life would be in danger if officials in Croatia discovered that he had disclosed the forgery.  Del Ponte allegedly expressed interest in the witness's testimony, but took no action to meet with him or provide witness protection.  The witness was later killed in Croatia, after rumours began circulating in the Croatian press that the documents used against Gotovina were forgeries. 

The UN is investigating whether the witness's death was related to his disclosures to Del Ponte and whether the witness's death could have been avoided if Del Ponte had granted the witness's request for protective measures.

After Croatian officials loyal to Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader expressed a desire in November 2004 to open a criminal investigation in Croatia about possible forgery of transcripts, Del Ponte reportedly threatened Croatian officials that if they commenced such an investigation she would issue negative reports about Croatia's cooperation with the U.N. tribunal, resulting in suspension of Croatia's negotiations to enter the European Union. 

The Office of Internal Oversight Services is investigating whether Del Ponte abused her power by making such threats to Croatian officials.

The charges against Del Ponte come on the heels of several scandals that have plagued the UN recently, including charges of corruption in its Iraq Oil-for-Food Program and sex scandals involving senior UN officials.  Del Ponte herself has been the focus of UN criticism in the past, having been removed from her post as chief prosecutor for the United Nations war crimes tribunal for Rwanda after allegations of mismanagement were raised by the Secretary General. 

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