Following the Serbian media broadcast of recordings showing alleged participation of Dudakovic and his subordinates in crimes committed during Operation Storm, Tihic's Office issued a statement for the press dismissing every accusation against the war-time commander of the Bosnian Army fifth Corps and his subordinates.
"They were defending their country and people from destruction," Tihic said adding that this was yet another attempt of Belgrade to equate mass and individual crimes committed during the war in Bosnia and Croatia.
Tihic supports efforts the Bosnian Prosecutor's Office was making so as to punish the perpetrators of war crimes, including crimes committed during Operation Storm. He stressed, however, that statements by Serbian politicians, such as Vojislav Kostunica, and Bosnian Serb entity politicians, such as Dragan Cavic and Milorad Dodik, represented direct pressure on the judiciary with an aim to equate the aggressors and defence soldiers.
"Given that they are already filing charges, Cavic and Dodik must first file criminal charges for horrible crimes committed by the Army of Republika Srpska, Arkan's troopes and others against non-Serb population during the retreat from Sanski Most," Tihic said.
Tihic reiterated that the authorities of Republika Srpska had not yet pressed charges for over 400 mass graves that had been found on the territory of the Bosnian Serb entity.
Serbian Radio Television (RTS) on Monday evening aired a video recording showing the commander of the Fifth Corps of the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Atif Dudakovic, giving orders to his subordinates to set villages in the Bosanska Krajina region on fire on September 16 and 17, 1995.
Retired general Dudakovic on Tuesday dismissed claims that he personally ordered war crimes as fabrications and lies. He said that that the only true claim was that he had commanded the operation shown on Monday by the Serbian state television, which accused him of ordering the burning of Serb villages in the Bosanska Krajina region. He once again firmly dismissed the accusations today.
A vice-president of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), Elmir Jahic, said that broadcasting the footage showing Storm Operation represented a clear intent of some circles from Serbia of trying to equate the operation with crimes committed in Srebrenica.
A vice-president of the Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina, Safet Halilovic, said that prosecutor's offices and courts must not be under political pressure to carry out an investigation into the recordings.
Republika Srpska President Dragan Cavic and Prime Minister Milorad Dodik on Tuesday announced that lawsuits with all documents on the crimes committed by the two units in August 1995 during the Croatian military and police operation "Storm" would be sent to the prosecutor's offices in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, as well as to the European Commission.
Almost all leading parties from the Bosnian Serb entity called for an investigation and punishment of the alleged war crimes.