BELGRADE, Jan 31 (Hina) - A vice premier of Serbia and former JNA commander at a military training centre at Zemunik near the Croatian coastal town of Zadar, general Momcilo Perisic, said in Belgrade on Wednesday his former "military
conduct can only do credit to the nation and state." Commenting on the Croatian foreign ministry's protest against his appointment as Serbian vice premier, Perisic told reporters that "during the wars in the area of former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" he had acted exclusively in line with the international law of war. A Croatian court sentenced Perisic in absentia to 20 years in prison for war crimes committed against civilians in Zadar at the time he commanded JNA forces at Zemunik and later in Dubrovnik and Mostar at the time he commanded the Herzegovina Corps. Commenting on the events in Zadar, Perisic said the soldiers had been attacked by the paramilitary u
BELGRADE, Jan 31 (Hina) - A vice premier of Serbia and former JNA
commander at a military training centre at Zemunik near the
Croatian coastal town of Zadar, general Momcilo Perisic, said in
Belgrade on Wednesday his former "military conduct can only do
credit to the nation and state."
Commenting on the Croatian foreign ministry's protest against his
appointment as Serbian vice premier, Perisic told reporters that
"during the wars in the area of former Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia" he had acted exclusively in line with the international
law of war.
A Croatian court sentenced Perisic in absentia to 20 years in prison
for war crimes committed against civilians in Zadar at the time he
commanded JNA forces at Zemunik and later in Dubrovnik and Mostar at
the time he commanded the Herzegovina Corps.
Commenting on the events in Zadar, Perisic said the soldiers had
been attacked by the paramilitary units of Croatia "which at the
time was not an internationally recognised state."
He claims that "soldiers and commanders, who were not exclusively
of Serb nationality, only defended their lives acting in line with
international conventions."
Perisic, who is in charge of national security, said "one should
look for the real culprits for the grave crime on the territory of
former Yugoslavia on the other side."
(hina) rml