Hague Prosecutor: Croatia ‘Blocking Justice’ in War Crimes Cases
Serge Brammertz in October 2019. Picture: EPA-EFE/FEHIM DEMIR.
Serge Brammertz, the chief prosecutor at the UN’s Intercontinental Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague, informed the Security Council in New York on Tuesday that Croatia is “taking political conclusions to block the justice process” in 1990s war crimes conditions.
Presenting his latest report, Brammertz explained that “in the former Yugoslavia, the most significant situation stays regional judicial cooperation” in war crimes cases.
Brammertz stated that his office had “facilitated a number of positive developments involving Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia”.
But he expressed concern that “both countries are going through severe challenges obtaining cooperation from Croatia”.
“As my created report particulars, the Croatian govt is taking political conclusions to block the justice system,” Brammertz claimed.
“For illustration, prosecutors in Bosnia and Herzegovina are ready for cooperation in extra than 80 cases, some of which have been pending for 7 decades,” he additional.
Brammertz explained that a 10 years back, “Croatia was at the forefront of attempts to boost regional judicial cooperation in war crimes cases”.
“Today, there is a popular perception that in Croatia there is the will to pursue justice for Croatian victims but not for victims of other ethnicities,” he reported.
“There is a uncomplicated stage Croatia can choose to begin altering that see: ship all pending requests for support at present blocked by the Ministry of Justice to related judicial authorities, and inspire them to urgently method these requests,” he urged.
Officials in Croatia and Serbia have generally clashed over war crimes difficulties and their differing interpretations of their conflict in the 1990s.
The most current row erupted when Serbia indicted 4 wartime officers of the Croatian Air Force for committing war crimes towards civilians.
The Croatian officers are reportedly accused of purchasing an airborne assault on a column of Serb refugees the Croatian Army’s Operation Storm. Both equally incidents transpired on Bosnian territory. Since of the absence of judicial cooperation, it is envisioned that they will be tried in their absence.
In his speech, Brammertz also urged the countries of the previous Yugoslavia “to put their political distinctions aside and drastically maximize their cooperation in the lookup for lacking persons”.
“This is a humanitarian very important,” he said. The bodies of various thousand people who disappeared during the 1990s wars have nevertheless not been uncovered.
