"The Hague Rewarded Criminals"

Politicians call the verdict expected and point out that the Tribunal rewarded Serbia. Kovacevic thinks the verdict is the price for Kosovo.

The Hague Tribunal's verdict, stating that Serbia is not responsible for the Srebrenica genocide and does not have to pay damages to Bosnia and Herzegovina, has prompted fierce reactions in our political circles. 

"The Hague rewarded Serbia"

- The Hague is part of the International Community that has taken a duplicitous step forward to Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovia when it prevented the two countries from defending themselves – said the Parliament Bosniac minority representative Semso Tankovic to Javno.

He added that, by taking this stance, the International Community has rewarded those who had committed the crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

- Now, Serbs have got the right to say that Bosnia and Herzegovina does not exist, but is part of the Great Serbia – said the Bosniac representative.

 Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Mate Granic, who held the office from 1993 to 2000, claims that the decision must be accepted because the Hague Tribunal is the highest judiciary body of the UN. 

"International Community wants to indulge Serbia"

- Personally, I am unhappy. Many crimes occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina, not just in Srebrenica – Granic confided to us and continued by saying that Slobodan Milosevic had launched the planned aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Croatian Party of Rights member Pero Kovacevic agreed with his colleagues that the verdict was to be expected, but pointed out that it was such for two reasons.

- The first cause is that Milosevic escaped justice in this world and the second is that the International Community does not know how to solve the Kosovo problem and, in this way, wants to indulge Serbia – said Kovacevic and added that had the Hague had double standards.

 Former Minister of Justice and president of Democratic Centre (DC) Vesna Skare-Ozbolt confirmed that the genocide had really happened in Srebrenica, but also in other parts of Bosnia.

- Srebrenica is the biggest crime of the Serbian aggression, but a decision like this one will also point to the crimes in Vukovar – claims Skare-Ozbolt.

On the other side, we have also asked Croatian historians to comment on this matter.

"We cannot expect anything else when there are no indictments against those who committed the crimes"

Dr. Josip Jurcevic was surprised by our call and would not comment until the exact sources for the Hague verdict were established.

- If this is true, I see no surprises in the decision – Jurcevic briefly commented.

Miroslav Tudjman thinks that the Hague cannot be expected to deliver historical facts because it is bound by legal regulations.

- I keep repeating this and I will do it again. The number of crimes that occurred need to be ascertained because the information that 200,000 people died in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not realistic – Tudjman pointed out.

He also mentioned that the top officials of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) had not been indicted for the crimes, i.e. the Hague had only referenced operational groups.

- It is unrealistic to expect something from the Hague when there are no charges against those who committed the crimes, and those were the top JNA officials. – Miroslav Tudjman concluded our conversation.