ZAGREB -- Tuesday - Croatia's Justice Ministry has rejected claims by
Amnesty International of its failure to prosecute crimes against Serbs.

The ministry claimed that it was normal for more charges to be laid against
Serbs than against Croats, because Croatia had liberated its occupied
territory.

"After the military Operation Storm, criminal charges were laid against
about 3,800 people on the Croatian side," said the ministry in a statement.

Amnesty International's report criticised Croatia for its failure to bring
people who had violated human rights in the country between 1991 and 1995
to justice.

Don't call us, we'll call you, EU tells Croatia | 22:39 December 13 |
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ZAGREB -- Monday - The European Union is to delay the beginning of
accession talks with Croatia until at least March, 2005.

Zagreb is to be given another three months to extradite Ante Gotovina to
the Hague Tribunal, said EU sources.

One of Croatia's conditions for the beginning of accession talks is
cooperation with the tribunal, including the extradition of Gotovina.

The Croatian general has been indicted by the tribunal fro war crimes.

Amnesty International blasts Croatia | 15:02 December 13 |
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PARIS -- Monday - The Amnesty International organization has criticized
Croatia for not punishing those who committed war crimes in the period
between 1991 and 1995.

"Almost ten years after the conflict in Croatia, they still have not solved
the problems of crimes against human rights laws which were committed
during wartime and have yet to arrest those responsible for the crimes."
Amnesty International released in a statement.

The organization said that the claims are directed at acts of murder and
execution during the war in Croatia, and that some of the people who are
suspected of participating in those crimes are still holding positions
within the local government.

"The inability of the Croatian government to deal with the burden of poor
results in the field of human rights in the post-wartime period seriously
endangers the lawfulness of the country and remains a serious obstacle to
post-wartime reconciliation." Amnesty International states.

Call made to end sale of Serbian homes | 15:13 December 13 |
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ZAGREB -- Monday - Deputy Leader of the Independent Democratic Serbian
Party of Croatia, Milorad Pupovac, has called for a stoppage in the illegal
buying off of homes belonging to Serbian returnees.

Pupovac confirmed that he has made a formal request to Croatian Prime
Minister Ivo Sanader.

The party is asking for the Croatian government to freeze all sales made by
the Agency for Sales and Property Mediation because, according to the
Serbian party, with the help of Croatian brokers and neighboring countries,
the government is buying Serbian homes without the knowledge of the owners
by way of falsifying documents that give them authority to do so.

Pupovac said that the party has concrete evidence and witnesses to back up
the claims of these illegal sales.

Court to rule on NATO charges this week | 00:59 December 13 |
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THE HAGUE -- Sunday - The International Court of Justice in The Hague will
rule on Wednesday on whether it is competent to hear Serbia-Montenegro's
charges against a number of NATO countries.

The charges were raised in 1999, alleging that, by bombing Yugoslavia,
eight NATO members had committed the crimes of genocide, illegal use of
force and military interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.

The countries accused, Canada, France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Austria,
Portugal and the Netherlands, claim that Yugoslavia, at the time it laid
the charges, was not a member of the United Nations and had not signed the
Convention on Genocide which is the basis for the charges.

Three rulings are possible, says Belgrade's senior legal representative in
the case, Tibor Varadij. It could rule that it is competent to hear the
charges and set a date for the trial, it could rule that it is not
competent, upholding the argument of the defendants, or it could rule
itself incompetent for other reasons.

If the argument that Yugoslavia was not a member of the United Nations,
this ruling would contradict an earlier decision in which the court ruled
itself competent to hear Bosnia-Hercegovina's charges against Yugoslavia,
although Belgrade's lawyers used the argument of non-membership in that case.