Serbian war criminals are campaigning for the upcoming presidential, parliamentary, and Belgrade local elections, according to a human rights NGO.
The EU hopeful is heading to the polls on 3 April to choose a new president, parliament, and mayor in the capital city of Belgrade. But the Youth Initiative for Human Rights has sounded the alarm that convicted war criminals are participating in political campaigning for the ruling party, headed by Aleksander Vucic.
Vucic was minister of information in the genocidal regime of Slobodan Milosevic who has repeatedly denied genocide of Albanians during the Kosovo war. Following the brutal murder of 8,372 Muslim Bosniaks in Srebrenica within less than two weeks, and the mounting international pressure, Vucic was among those who threatened the international community not to retaliate against Serbia.
Only 9 days after the horrific genocide, on 20 July 1995, a defiant Vucic told the world: “Come and bomb us, kill one Serb and we will kill 100 Muslims. And then we will see whether the international community dares to attack Serb positions and treat the Serb people this way.”
Some of those named in the report include Veselin Sljivancanin, Nikola Sainovic, and Vladmir Lazarevic. The latter is a retired general who was sentenced to 14 years in prison by the Hague for the deportation and inhumane treatment of Albanians during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war.
Sljivancanin was an officer in the Yuglosav People’s Army and received ten years in prison for involvement in the torture of prisoners and complicity in the murder of 260 people during the Croatian war.
Sanovic was Yugoslavia’s deputy prime minister was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the murders, deportations and inhumane treatment of Kosovo Albanians during the war.
These are just some examples of those named in the report who have spoken in favour of Vucic and the ruling party, while criticising opponents.
“I think it is important and indicative that we have six convicted war criminals who support the electoral lists and candidates of the ruling coalition of the SNS [Serbian Progressive Party] and SPS [Socialist Party of Serbia],” said Marko Milosavljevic, one of the authors of the report.
Furthermore, there are alleged war criminals who are standing as candidates in the election as well. These include Liljana Mihajlovic, Bozidar Delic, and Vojislav Seselj.
Two more individuals wanted by the UN court in the Hague are standing in the upcoming election. They include Vjerica Radeta and Petar Jojic who are charged with contempt of court for threatening, blackmailing and bribing witnesses during another criminal’s trial.
