Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Vatican hiding war crimes suspect?

The Vatican is helping Croatia's most wanted war crimes suspect evade capture, a top UN prosecutor alleges.

Carla del Ponte, chief prosecutor for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, has said she believes Gen Ante Gotovina is hiding in a monastery in Croatia.

Ms del Ponte's spokeswoman told the BBC News website that the Vatican had refused to help in the search for him, despite being in a position to do so.

Read the complete article War crimes chief accuses Vatican from BBC News.

In the article it says that the Vatican will be coming out with a statement on this. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Holy See has to say. My first thought would be that this is pretty much a Croatian Church matter as far as if there is any hiding being done. Would the Holy See want to crack down and tell the Croatian bishops to stop aiding the general? We'll see what the forthcoming statement has to say.

Ms del Ponte's spokeswoman, Florence Hartmann, told the BBC News website that "the law applies to everyone, including the Vatican".

What law is Ms. Hartmann referring to, by the way? I suppose the Holy See is a signatory of various international conventions, but citing international 'law' in such a way is almost laughable. The Holy See ought to see this general turned over for the right reasons, not because they want to pull the 'law' card. What are they going to do, recommend that the UN and the EU punish the Holy See with sanctions...?

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