ZAGREB, Sept 20 (Hina) - Croatian Staff General Janko Bobetko, against whom the Hague-based international war crimes tribunal has issued an indictment, has said he will not surrender to the tribunal. He called on the Croatian public,
primarily his co-fighters and the families of killed Croatian soldiers, to be unified and not separate on a political or any other basis at this moment.
ZAGREB, Sept 20 (Hina) - Croatian Staff General Janko Bobetko,
against whom the Hague-based international war crimes tribunal has
issued an indictment, has said he will not surrender to the
tribunal. He called on the Croatian public, primarily his co-
fighters and the families of killed Croatian soldiers, to be
unified and not separate on a political or any other basis at this
moment. #L#
"As the oldest anti-facsist in Europe and Croatian army commanding
officer in liberation operations during the Homeland War, and as a
soldier who lived through two wars and participated in two
victorious armies, I thought all my battles were behind me.
Evidently, they are not. In my 83rd year of life it fell to me to lead
a new battle, probably my last, against another aggression on
Croatia. This time the aggressor is the ostensible tribunal for war
crimes, and its intent is to erase our history, condemn our freedom
and remove from our memories the proud days of the struggle for a
free Croatia," reads Bobetko's statement.
In his public statement, Bobetko stressed he "made a decision".
"I will not go to The Hague. Where was the lady from the Tribunal's
prosecution when we were bleeding and when our towns were being
destroyed and citizens killed? We don't need her now either, now
that we have a free country, our own parliament and our courts.
There is no court on earth to have tried an army which defended and
liberated its country, nor will there ever be. Know that we are the
first and last in that. I personally will not allow this," Bobetko
concludes.
(hina) lml sb