THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, June 26 (Hina) - Ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic accused former U.S. Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith on Thursday of trying to justify crimes committed during Croatia's 1995 Operation Storm.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, June 26 (Hina) - Ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic accused former U.S. Ambassador to Croatia Peter
Galbraith on Thursday of trying to justify crimes committed during
Croatia's 1995 Operation Storm. #L#
"Galbraith is justifying this crime with political reasons,"
Milosevic said at the Hague war crimes tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia starting the cross-examination of prosecutorial
witness Galbraith.
Storm was "the biggest crime against Serbs" in which "250,000
civilians were displaced," said Milosevic.
Galbraith said the United States had done everything to reach a
peaceful solution for the problem of "Krajina", Croatian Serb
rebels' self-styled state, undermining relations with then
Croatian authorities for advocating a high level of autonomy for
ethnic Serbs.
The former ambassador said Milosevic had refused to cooperate and
that a number of Serb leaders had told him Milosevic had ordered
them to reject plan Z-4, which guaranteed a high level of autonomy
for Croatian Serbs.
The consequences were the war and 180,000 Serb refugees because the
Serb refusal of Z-4 gave the Croatian army an excuse to start the
war, Galbraith said.
Croatia did many things that were unlawful and even criminal during
Operation Storm, including the systematic burning of Serb
property, the killing of several hundred Serbs who stayed, and then
President Franjo Tudjman's racist efforts to keep Serbs from
returning to their homes, said Galbraith.
He reiterated the U.S. had criticised Croatia for that, imposing
sanctions for the purpose of making headway in the respect of human
rights.
Asked by Milosevic if what happened during Storm met ethnic
cleansing criteria, Galbraith said there had been no ethnic
cleansing during that operation because the entire population had
fled the Krajina region.
Responding to questions from Geoffrey Nice, the chief prosecutor in
the case, the former ambassador said he believed the population had
fled the region because they had known about the impending
operation.
Milosevic claimed during cross-examination nobody in Serbia's
authorities at that time, himself included, knew Croatia's army
might launch an operation.
(hina) ha sb