ZAGREB, May 26 (Hina) - Croatia's ministers of justice and the interior on Wednesday assessed as inappropriate and exaggerated a Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO) report on alleged violations of human rights during and after Storm, a
1995 military operation which liberated Croatian territory until then under Serbian occupation. The report degrades the entirely legitimate liberation operation and wishes to accuse the operation's leading coordinators and the Croatian state, Justice Minister Zvonimir Separovic and Interior Minister Ivan Penic told reporters, informing them in detail about the report. Penic said the HHO report has some 200 pages and is divided into ten chapters, adding it is obvious at first glance that the same cases are repeated several times and on several occasions. It may be assumed the authors' intent was to increase the volume of the material and the figure of the all
ZAGREB, May 26 (Hina) - Croatia's ministers of justice and the
interior on Wednesday assessed as inappropriate and exaggerated a
Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO) report on alleged violations of
human rights during and after Storm, a 1995 military operation
which liberated Croatian territory until then under Serbian
occupation.
The report degrades the entirely legitimate liberation operation
and wishes to accuse the operation's leading coordinators and the
Croatian state, Justice Minister Zvonimir Separovic and Interior
Minister Ivan Penic told reporters, informing them in detail about
the report.
Penic said the HHO report has some 200 pages and is divided into ten
chapters, adding it is obvious at first glance that the same cases
are repeated several times and on several occasions. It may be
assumed the authors' intent was to increase the volume of the
material and the figure of the alleged victims and the number of
committed crimes, he said.
The Interior Ministry has already spoken about the majority of the
mentioned cases, Penic said and mentioned the responses to last
year's Amnesty International report. The Interior Ministry never
covered up the events, but provided objective information for both
the domestic and the world public, he added.
Penic said the HHO report states that some persons had allegedly
been killed, while the Interior Ministry previously established
they were alive.
He mentioned a note from Feral Tribune weekly asking Interior
Ministry statements about 50 persons allegedly gone missing or
killed. The ministry determined 40 persons from the list had never
even existed, whereas the other ten included one killed person,
whose murderer had been indicted.
There would be no Croatian state without the Flash and Storm
liberation operations, said Justice Minister Separovic, adding
those who were bringing that into question were doing so to the
detriment of the Croatian state and people.
Those who slam Storm and the generals who coordinated it do wrong,
Separovic said, adding he was embittered by such articles and some
sort of indictment against the Croatian President.
Separovic believes the principal message of the HHO report was that
the Croatian army and police had committed serious violations of
human rights and had not been tried. This not only degrades Storm,
but by stating the names of Croatian generals who took part in it
openly condemns the whole liberation operation and the people who
led it, he asserted.
The justice minister stressed Storm was implemented before the eyes
of the international community, which assessed it as legitimate. He
reminded that Croatian authorities headed by the President called
on Serb paramilitary units to surrender their weapons and on Serb
locals to stay in their homes.
Separovic stated 911 soldiers and civilians were killed during and
after Storm. It must not be forgotten that it was a military
operation which would have civilian victims as well, he said.
The Croatian Army did not commit crimes, Separovic asserted but
granted the possibility of violations of human rights on the part of
individuals. There is not one single piece of data which would point
to the accountability of even one army senior official, he said.
Separovic said it was incorrect that judicial bodies had not
processed certain cases. He mentioned more than 5,000 processed
ones. Last year, 2,670 cases came to court, a verdict of first
instance was reached for 1,306, while 1,086 were closed; the cases
which have not been completed are being worked on.
This proves that the Interior Ministry and judicial bodies have not
been sitting idly, Separovic said, and expressed his regret at the
fact that material such as the HHO report were being presented
around the world, that the accusations they contain went too far and
too high, and that Croatia's judiciary and authorities were being
criticised for not doing anything.
Separovic announced Croatia would request The Hague tribunal to
indict "Vucurevic and Strugar who are responsible for attacks on
Dubrovnik, and Ratko Mladic for crimes committed against Croats in
Skabrnja and Nadin."
He welcomed the tribunal's decision to indict Zeljko Raznatovic
Arkan. Given that war crimes do not grow old, Vojislav Seselj should
account for those committed in Croatia, Separovic said.
Croatian Army general Milivoj Petkovic, requested by The Hague
tribunal to testify, is willing to make his statement via a video-
link, the justice minister said, adding it had been assessed the
general had better not abandon his duty considering the situation
in Croatia's neighbourhood.
(hina) ha jn