POLITICIANS ON THE VERDICT
"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.
Tekst:

Daria Lešic

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.