Croatia may tighten the screws on neighbouring Serbia’s EU accession talks if Belgrade presses on with war-time indictments against Croatian officials for alleged crimes against Serb civilians, Croatia’s parliament speaker said on Monday.
Serbian media quoted Dušan Bratić, a lawyer representing ethnic Serbs who fled Croatia in 1995, as saying the war crimes prosecutors in Belgrade are ready to indict Croatian admiral Davor Domazet and general Pavao Miljavac, both now retired. Officials in Belgrade did not deny the reports.
Their case is related to previous indictments by Belgrade against four Croatian army pilots for allegedly firing rockets on a column of Serb refugees in August 1995, following Zagreb’s offensive against rebel Serb-held areas.
Serbia said at the time it was using the “universal jurisdiction,” a legal principle that allows a country to claim criminal jurisdiction in case of serious crimes committed by a foreign national residing in another country.
The latest report added more fuel to the simmering tensions between the two former foes, EU member Croatia and EU hopeful Serbia.
Croatia’s parliament speaker Gordan Jandroković said “Croatia rejects these indictments, which are politically motivated, and wants to tell Serbia: Turn to the future, look in the mirror and think about what you are doing.”
“Croatia will use the EU negotiations to send a message to Serbia that such things will not be tolerated. If they want to progress towards the EU, they must behave like Europeans.”
His comments prompted Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić to retort on Twitter that “an EU member is publicly saying that if you are seeking justice for the death of children – because four of them were killed there (in 1995) – you cannot be a part of the EU. Is that the rule of law? European values? Aren’t you ashamed to say this publicly?”
Croatian general Miljavac said the latest announcement of more indictments against Croatian army officials is a direct attack on the Croatian state.
He told Croatia’s N1 television on Monday (22 August) that he was innocent and his “conscience is clear.”
“No one ever made a decision to target civilians,” he added.
“After the indictments against pilots, they are now going after the generals, those who were in charge of organising operations, which is a direct attack on our state,” he said.
Croatia retook areas controlled by Serb rebels for four years in two swift military operations in May and August 1995, which prompted an exodus of around 200,000 ethnic Serbs into Serbia.
While the August Operation Storm was conducted quickly, with little resistance from the Serb militia, its aftermath was tainted by random killings of dozens of elderly Serb civilians who stayed behind in their homes.
