ZAGREB, Dec 4 (Hina) - The international war crimes tribunal in The Hague should discern liability for aggression and crimes from individual crimes. The Croatian Government will not allow history and historical facts to be changed,
but will cooperate in solving every individual war crime, Croatian Vice-Premier Goran Granic said Monday at the opening of a government round table conference organised by The Economist Conferences.
ZAGREB, Dec 4 (Hina) - The international war crimes tribunal in The
Hague should discern liability for aggression and crimes from
individual crimes. The Croatian Government will not allow history
and historical facts to be changed, but will cooperate in solving
every individual war crime, Croatian Vice-Premier Goran Granic
said Monday at the opening of a government round table conference
organised by The Economist Conferences. #L#
Stressing the dignity of the Croatian people cannot be brought into
question with any kind of speculation, Granic said the Government
insisted on rendering relations with The Hague void of politics.
"We do not accept any political manipulation theses that Balkan
tribes waged war in this region and they should be punished. That
would be equally offensive as saying World War II had resulted in so
many victims because tribes in Europe got into conflict, so they
should be punished," Granic asserted.
The Croatian Government is aware that only through profound and
comprehensive changes can the society be drawn out of the crisis.
The state of economy and society warrants the mobilisation of every
individual and institution and their responsible and creative work
in the next four years to create a foundation for economic and
social development, Granic asserted.
A precondition for development, he said, is also a strong
consolidation of a law-based state, in which area the Government is
currently running into problems, such as corruption, criminal,
functioning of the entire justice system, its efficacy and issues
of the basic rights of citizens.
This is reflected in the issues of the rights to return and
ownership, referring to refugees and displaced persons.
"Nobody can politically intervene in issues of ownership,
especially for religious or national reasons, nor in the right of
every citizen to freely choose whether to live in Croatia or not,"
Granic stressed.
He added there was no such thing as a political problem of return for
the Government, as every citizen could return to his or her home and
enjoy their property.
Croatia has shown it is capable of facing the dark events and assume
an objective standpoint towards crime, denouncing and processing
every war crime.
"The issue of war crimes opens up numerous more issues, as well as
the issues of some political agreements which we have refused, as we
held crime must be processes. We do not oppose anybody's return to
Croatia, but we shall process every war crime for which there is
founded suspicion," Granic said.
Commenting on the situation in Yugoslavia, Granic stressed Croatia
applauded the democratic changes, assessing that without a
democratic Serbia there could be no stability in the region nor in
Croatia.
"Only a democratisation of Serbia means stability in the region. Of
course, this does not relieve anybody from liability because a
democratic regime must assume responsibility for committed
crimes," Granic said.
(hina) lml