BELGRADE, June 21 (Hina) - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica's advisor on human rights, Gradimir Nalic, on Thursday accused Croatia's authorities and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of "double
standards", and asked that Yugoslav experts and families of missing Serbs be able to identify corpses unearthed "from graves in Croatia." At a news conference held by an association of families of missing Croatian Serbs, Nalic asserted that the case of the Knin cemetery had been a topic of conversations of "President Kostunica with Croatian President Stjepan Mesic last week in Italy." Nalic, however, did not say any more about it. He added that "Croatian authorities are not willing to make it possible for the missing persons' families to attend the identification." The head of the families' association, Cedo Maric, said about 3,000 families did not know what happ
BELGRADE, June 21 (Hina) - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica's
advisor on human rights, Gradimir Nalic, on Thursday accused
Croatia's authorities and the International Criminal Tribunal for
the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of "double standards", and asked that
Yugoslav experts and families of missing Serbs be able to identify
corpses unearthed "from graves in Croatia."
At a news conference held by an association of families of missing
Croatian Serbs, Nalic asserted that the case of the Knin cemetery
had been a topic of conversations of "President Kostunica with
Croatian President Stjepan Mesic last week in Italy."
Nalic, however, did not say any more about it.
He added that "Croatian authorities are not willing to make it
possible for the missing persons' families to attend the
identification."
The head of the families' association, Cedo Maric, said about 3,000
families did not know what happen with their dearest ones.
Maric asked Yugoslav authorities to financially assist the
families' departure to Zagreb so that they can be present at the
identification of exhumed bodies and to cover costs of burials of
identified and not identified persons.
A head of a project of the International Commission for Missing
Persons, Astha Zimbo, announced the opening of a laboratory with
necessary equipment for DNA analyses as soon as this international
organisation receives a licence for its registration in
Yugoslavia.
Zimbo said the commission also supported the exhumation of mass
graves near Belgrade. The unearthing of those graves has been under
way for about ten days and so far 17 corpses have been exhumed.
The victims are believed to have been ethnic Albanians from Kosovo.
According to Serbian Interior Ministry's estimates, about 1,000
corpses are likely to be find in three mass graves in Batajnica.
(hina) sb ms