ZAGREB, March 25 (Hina) - Several associations, parties and individuals on Tuesday voiced their dissatisfaction with yesterday's verdict passed by Rijeka County Court to Mirko Norac and two other defendants of the so-called Gospic
Group indicted for war crimes against civilians in Gospic in 1991. The three were found guilty of the crimes and given prison sentences.
ZAGREB, March 25 (Hina) - Several associations, parties and
individuals on Tuesday voiced their dissatisfaction with
yesterday's verdict passed by Rijeka County Court to Mirko Norac
and two other defendants of the so-called Gospic Group indicted for
war crimes against civilians in Gospic in 1991. The three were found
guilty of the crimes and given prison sentences. #L#
Croatian army generals gathered in the Association of Homeland
Pride and Honour today issued a statement voicing their "most harsh
protest" against the verdict.
Stating that they denounce all crimes, especially against
civilians, the generals said that in this case, "war circumstances
which Croatia and Gospic faced at the beginning of the Greater
Serbian aggression were completely forgotten and marginalised".
The generals from this society, also called "Viribus unitis",
expect that "the huge mistakes" to General Mirko Norac and the other
convicts would be corrected during the appeals proceedings, since
their indirect responsibility, if it ever existed, was not proven.
They recalled that the U.N. war crimes tribunal had sentenced
Biljana Plavsic to 11 years in prison.
The "Honos" association for the protection of the Homeland War
values described the sentences as "a draconian show-down with the
Homeland War", and "yet another triumph of politics over justice in
Croatia".
Honos says in its press release signed by president Nenad Ivankovic
that the trial in Rijeka, as well as other trials of Croatian
veterans "suggest that crimes in Croatia were only committed by
Croats who defended themselves, since Serb crimes are not being
processed, neither those committed in Gospic, nor those across
Croatia, which claimed more than 15,000 lives, of which more than a
half were civilians".
Honos believes that yesterday's verdict and indictments against
Croatian generals and officers are aimed at equating guilt and are
"an attempt to prove that Croatia was created on crime". The
association, thus, "not only supports the spontaneous protests by
citizens, but also encourages them," says the statement.
The Association of Croatian Homeland War Volunteers says the
verdict to General Mirko Norac and the other defendants from the
Gospic Group is unacceptable "because of their importance and role
which they had in stopping the enemy aggression on the Gospic
battlefield and the liberation of that part of Croatia's
territory".
The association says in a statement that it joins in support to
Norac and others "with regards to their eventual acquittal, and
condemns the political circumstances in which Croatian veterans
and the Homeland War are being criminalised with such
indictments".
The Zagreb branch of the HVIDRA (Homeland War invalids association)
said it was "surprised and embittered" by the verdict, and labelled
the trial as political and rigged.
The president of the Croatian Movement for Life and Family, Ruzica
Cavar, called for prayers to correct the grave injustice done to
those convicted.
The parliamentary bench of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP)
believes that the ruling is a verdict against the Homeland War, and
the heroic defence of Gospic from Serb aggressors was placed in the
context of a civil war in which both sides committed crimes.
"The verdict to Croatian veterans and heroes Mirko Norac, Tihomir
Oreskovic and Stjepan Grandic is yet another contribution to the
criminalisation of the Homeland War and proof that the Croatian
judiciary is incapable of breaking free from international and
internal pressures," HSP president Anto Djapic told a news
conference in parliament today.
He announced the HSP would soon again move a bill according to which
all Croatian veterans who had been on the front lines during the
Homeland War would be amnestied from criminal acts.
The party will also propose amendments to the Law on Citizenship,
according to which Croatian citizenship would be refused to those
persons who had been proven to have participated in the Serb
aggression against Croatia.
Croatian Military Vicar Juraj Jezerinac said in his statement that
it was necessary to "punish all those who committed crimes after
their guilt has been proven in a fair and objective trial".
He says that trials of only Croatian veterans is a sign to criminals
and the people who inspired them to commit the crimes that they
should not fear the consequences and will remain protected.
Jezerinac recalled last year's statement by Croatian bishops in
Krk, in which they said that in making estimations about defence
actions by the internationally recognised Republic of Croatia, one
should keep in mind the entire war events and that war events in
Croatia should not be extracted from their historical context, nor
should consequences be viewed independently of their causes.
The court of first instance on Monday sentenced Tihomir Oreskovic
to 15 years in prison, Mirko Norac to 12 years and Stjepan Grandic to
10 years in prison. Ivica Rozic was acquitted.
(hina) lml sb