SDSS vice-president Milorad Pupovac told reporters in the parliament on Tuesday that the issue of civilian war victims was regulated by three laws - the law on the protection of military and civilian war victims, the law on responsibility for damage caused by acts of terrorism and public demonstrations, and the law on Croatia's responsibility for damage caused by members of the Croatian army and police forces during the Homeland War.
Pupovac added, however, that the laws did not apply to Serb citizens killed in areas under Croatian government control nor did they guarantee efficient prosecution and just compensation for citizens who lost their family members.
He said that Serb citizens were the only category of victims from World War II and the Homeland War whose rights were not regulated and who had not been granted victim status.
Pupovac also warned that missing Serbs were not on the joint list of citizens imprisoned or gone missing in the war, but were listed on "two sheets of paper, stapled together".
"If the law equates the rights of the Partisans and the Ustashas, I see no reason why this cannot be done in the case of civilian victims of the recent war," Pupovac said.
Asked if the SDSS would seek permanent compensation for Serb victims, Pupovac said: "We are not in this for money, but because of respect for the victims."
SDSS member Ratko Gajica said that other war victims were covered by laws on the rights of Croatian soldiers and the war disabled, who had the right to permanent compensation.
"In this case too the victims were innocent, but they can only invoke the Law on Compensation for Damage," Gajica said, calling it "legally intolerable, disgraceful discrimination".
Asked why they had not proposed amendments to eliminate discrimination, Pupovac said that in 2002, when the relevant law was adopted, the SDSS was not entirely aware of the ensuing court practice.
He added that part of the public at the time was "not ready for this kind of statements on this topic".
The party officials said that the number of Serb victims was not small and that their exact number would be established in cooperation with the Croatian Red Cross and the government office for prisoners of war and missing persons.
The SDSS press conference was also attended by five women from Novska, Sisak, Virovitica, Vukovar and Zagreb, who lost their family members at the start of the war in Croatia and who sought damages before Croatian courts, but to no avail.