ZAGREB, Sept 28 (Hina) - A prominent representative of the Serb minority in Croatia, Milorad Pupovac, on Thursday expressed concern with attempts of certain associations to criminalise the Serb community and bring its existence in
Croatia into question. Pupovac told a news conference in Zagreb the Serb People's Council, of which he was president, applauded the results of the recent general elections in Yugoslavia. "Yugoslavia has spoken with the language of democracy and has chosen that which will make it possible for its citizens, as well as neighbouring countries, to make a new long-expected historical step," Pupovac said. He informed reporters that Internet pages of the Croatian Information Centre (HIC) of this month contained a list of about a thousand names of Croatian citizens of Serb nationality who are being labelled as war criminals, bypassing judicial institutions. These lists surfaced
ZAGREB, Sept 28 (Hina) - A prominent representative of the Serb
minority in Croatia, Milorad Pupovac, on Thursday expressed
concern with attempts of certain associations to criminalise the
Serb community and bring its existence in Croatia into question.
Pupovac told a news conference in Zagreb the Serb People's Council,
of which he was president, applauded the results of the recent
general elections in Yugoslavia.
"Yugoslavia has spoken with the language of democracy and has
chosen that which will make it possible for its citizens, as well as
neighbouring countries, to make a new long-expected historical
step," Pupovac said.
He informed reporters that Internet pages of the Croatian
Information Centre (HIC) of this month contained a list of about a
thousand names of Croatian citizens of Serb nationality who are
being labelled as war criminals, bypassing judicial institutions.
These lists surfaced during the peaceful reintegration of
Croatia's occupied areas as an attempt of political pressure aimed
at spurring the exodus of Serbs from Croatia, Pupovac asserted.
The re-publishing of the lists, according to Pupovac, is an attempt
to reinstate war philosophy. He called on judicial organs to put a
stop on such an "incendiary campaign".
After the news conference, Pupovac commented on the request of the
Association of Croatian Displaced Persons for a review of the Erdut
Agreement.
The Association said last week stipulations of the Agreement were
making it impossible for people who had been exiled during the Serb
occupation, to return to their former jobs.
The Erdut Agreement guarantees people who stayed in the region
during the occupation to return to their former jobs, and a change
to the Agreement would bring into question Croatia's international
position, Pupovac said.
He holds such calls for a review of the Agreement extremist,
because, as he put it, "only extremists demand ethnically cleansed
public services".
(hina) lml jn