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UNITED NATIONS, Aug 31 (AFP) - Croatia is claiming that charges of non-cooperation made against it to the Security Council by the UN war crimes tribunal might be politically motivated.
In a letter to the Council made public Tuesday, the Croatian government said it "cannot quite rule out doubts that political pressure is being exerted against it in connection with the forthcoming parliamentary elections."
Croatian authorities have said elections will take place in the last quarter of the year, but no date has been set.
The letter was dated August 27, two days after war crimes tribunal president Gabrielle Kirk McDonald formally reported Croatia to the Council for non-compliance with its obligations under international law.
McDonald said Croatia had refused to recognise the tribunal's jurisdiction over alleged war crimes committed during two military offensives against Serbian-held territory in Bosnia in 1995.
She also complained that Croatia had refused to hand over Mladen Naletilic, a suspected war criminal indicted by the tribunal in The Hague.
In its letter to the Council, the Croatian government insisted that the military operations code-named "Operation Flash" and "Operation Storm" were "entirely legitimate and carried out in compliance with international law."
Consequently, it said, "the tribunal has no jurisdiction over them."
The operations, it said, "were crucial for the liberation of parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina under Serb occupation and were thus instrumental in bringing about the Dayton accords."
As for Naletilic, the letter said he was "standing trial before a Croatian court on charges of grave criminal acts".
Proceedings were underway before a court in Zagreb "to ascertain whether conditions exist for his extradition" to The Hague.
On Monday, Croatia's HINA news agency quoted legal sources saying that the extradition hearings would be heard by a Zagreb court on Wednesday.
Earlier hearings in April were suspended after Naletilic became ill but he has been declared fit to stand trial after being treated for lung and heart problems in a prison hospital.
Naletilic was indicted for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during "ethnic cleansing" in the region of Mostar during the 1993-94 Croat-Moslem conflict.
Naletilic's co-suspect Vinko Martinovic, who is also facing "ethnic cleansing" charges, was transferred to The Hague on August 9.