BELGRADE, April 8 (Hina) - The assassinated Serbian Premier Zoran Djindjic was a pro-European politician, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said in an interview with the Serbian news agency Beta ahead of his trip to Belgrade, where he
will attend a summit of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), to take place on Wednesday. Mesic said he hoped the option to win in Serbia would be that of the forces which had supported Djindjic.
BELGRADE, April 8 (Hina) - The assassinated Serbian Premier Zoran
Djindjic was a pro-European politician, Croatian President Stjepan
Mesic said in an interview with the Serbian news agency Beta ahead
of his trip to Belgrade, where he will attend a summit of the South-
East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), to take place on
Wednesday. Mesic said he hoped the option to win in Serbia would be
that of the forces which had supported Djindjic. #L#
"The forces which supported Djindjic may continue on his path even
more boldly, however, the event (Djindjic's assassination) could
on the other hand stop Serbia's integration in Europe, which would
worsen relations with neighbours, which are currently improving,"
Mesic said. He added the path to Europe led through cooperation with
neighbouring countries, which was the purpose of the Belgrade
summit. Mesic will attend the summit as an observer.
Organised crime knows no borders and criminal groups in Croatia and
Serbia have cooperated over the past years and still are, Mesic
said. Commenting on a recent threat levelled at him and Premier
Racan about their "joining Premier Djindjic for breakfast as soon
as possible", Mesic said the threats were realistic.
"I believe that the conscience of Croatian citizens has changed.
Scoring political points on national topics and a nation being
threatened is always easy, but when the true character of things is
revealed and one realises that those who committed crimes should
answer for them, the public adopts a more objective approach,"
Mesic said, commenting on the verdict in the trial of the so-called
Gospic Group. He stated that the public had accepted arguments
presented at the trial and that the verdict was "a turning point and
proof that the Croatian judiciary is up to the task" of processing
war crimes, which was what the possible establishment of a special
court for war crimes should contribute to, "so that the topic of war
is ended once and for all".
Mesic said that a large number of Croatian Serbs, suspected of war
crimes and arrested over the past years, were granted amnesty
because their armed rebellion was covered by Croatia's amnesty law,
however, "war criminals cannot and will never be amnestied".
"Croatia can prove it is a democratic country only if it does not
apply laws to its citizens in a selective manner, regardless of
which nationality we are talking about," Mesic said.
The president agreed with the statement that the process of refugee
return was too slow and that international assistance in that area
was insufficient. He said that officials from Croatia, Bosnia and
Serbia would hold talks during tomorrow's summit to determine which
institutions in their countries would be entrusted with solving the
problem as soon as possible.
Mesic also dismissed claims by the prosecution of the U.N. war
crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague about Croatia's
non-cooperation with the tribunal. He believed that "General
Gotovina will realise that his conduct harms himself, the army he
was a member of and the whole of Croatia", and that "it is clear that
whoever comes to power after the incumbent authorities will have to
continue cooperating with The Hague".
(hina) rml sb