Croatian footdragging had led Chief Justice Louise Arbour to announce last week she would report Croatia to the United Nations Security Council for its "delinquency".

Louise Arbour attacked Croatian "delinquency"

Now Croatia says it will deliver Vinko Martinovic, a gang leader accused of directing a murderous ethnic cleansing campaign against Bosnian Muslims in 1993 to the tribunal and abandon its position that he must first sit out a jail term for other crimes in Croatia.

Mr Martinovic has been sentenced to eight years in prison in Croatia for murdering a woman in the Bosnian town of Mostar.

However, there was no sign that Croatia will deliver Mr Martinovic's co-accused, Mladen Naletilic.

Presidential link

Croatia is also refusing to relinquish military documents linked to two sudden assaults on Serbs in August 1995.

The court and Croatia have clashed repeatedly in recent months over Zagreb's failure to co-operate with a probe into Operation Storm - which reclaimed in just four days territory in southern Croatia held by Serbs for four years.

Might the trail of responsibility lead back to Croatian President Franjo Tudjman?

Croatia is alleged to have carried out random shelling and summary executions during this operation and a similar one in the east of the country.

Croatia disputes whether investigations into the operations come within the ICTY's remit.

Analysts say Croatia fears that close scrutiny of the operations could lead to charges against Croatian President Franjo Tudjman.

Charges denied

In the latest ICTY hearing, a Bosnian Serb paramilitary leader pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and enslavement.

Radomir Kovac, a 38-year old former military policeman, was arrested by Nato troops on Monday at his home in the southern Bosnian town of Foca and taken to The Hague.

He is one of seven men accused of the widespread rape and torture of Muslim women and girls as young as 15 years old in 1992, when Foca was ethnically cleansed of its Muslim population by Bosnian Serb forces.