CROATIA SUES YUGOSLAVIA FOR GENOCIDE BETWEEN 1991-1995

ZAGREB, July 2 (Hina) - Croatia on Friday filed an application with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on instituting proceedings against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for the crime of genocide committed between 1991 and 1995, so that it can be established who in the former Yugoslavia was the aggressor and who the victim, Croatian Government members told reporters in Zagreb on Friday. Croatia demands that the ICJ determine reparations Belgrade should pay. The purpose of the application is "that it finally be cleared and that a single verdict be adopted on what happened in the region - that Croatia was exposed to an act of aggression", said Vice Premier Ljerka Mintas-Hodak. The ICJ verdict, Mintas-Hodak believes, will clarify the role of Croatia and the Homeland War in the region. Justice Minister Zvonimir Separovic said this was the first time Croatia would strongly, with the existing legal act, "demonstrate what we have been trying to prove the whole time, but never in such a formal way as now, namely that Croatia is the victim, that it was Croatia that was attacked and that unprecedented crimes were committed during the attack". It was not a civil war, it was an act of aggression governed by a concept of Greater Serbia, Separovic said. "By directly controlling the activity of its armed forces, intelligence agents, and various paramilitary detachments, on the territory of the Republic of Croatia, in the Knin area, eastern and western Slavonia, and Dalmatia, the FRY is liable for the "ethnic cleansing" of Croatian citizens from these areas - a form of genocide which resulted in large numbers of Croatian citizens being displaced, killed, tortured or illegally detained as well as extensive property destruction - and is required to provide reparation for the resulting damages", the application said. Croatia also accuses Belgrade of the exodus of Serbs following operations "Flash" and "Storm". "In addition, by directing, encouraging, and urging Croatian citizens of Serb ethnicity in the Knin region to evacuate the area in 1995, as the Republic of Croatia reasserted its legitimate governmental authority (and in the face of clear reassurance emanating from the highest level of the Croatian Government, including the President of the Republic of Croatia, Dr. Franjo Tudjman, that the local Serbs had nothing to fear and stay), the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia engaged in conduct amounting to a second round of 'ethnic cleansing', in violation of the Genocide Convention". "The FRY carried out the aggression against the Republic of Croatia by supporting, abetting, and directing the actions of various extremist rebel groups within Croatia to rebel against the lawful and democratically elected government of the Republic of Croatia. The FRY directed and supported these groups by providing military personnel, military supplies, and money to enable the insurgent Serb rebels to oppose the work of regular and legitimate Croatian police". The Genocide Convention was violated with the occupation of one third of the Croatian territory, which left more than 20,000 killed citizens, more than 120 mass graves, 55,000 wounded, 3,000 missing, and direct damage amounting to US$27 billion. The proclamation of the "Republic of Serbian Krajina" was part of a plan for the creation of Greater Serbia, which was consistently represented by the then FRY President Slobodan Milosevic. The Genocide Convention, which was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1948, defines genocide as activities aimed at destroying, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. Croatian Government members said the application was submitted because it was only now that "all circumstances" had become ripe for such a step. They dismissed any connection between the application being submitted now and the possible issuing of indictments against Croatian generals who participated in "Operation Storm". One of the reasons why reparations are being sought in this way is that talks on succession, within which Croatia had sought reparations, have not yielded satisfactory results, said Mintas- Hodak. She said the application and the ICJ verdict would also contribute to the Stability Pact, that is, to the stabilisation of the region and the normalisation of relations with the FRY, "by clearing the issue of equally attributing guilt to all sides". The legal basis for the application against the FRY is the Croatian Parliament (Sabor) decision of October 8, 1991, which established that Serbia and Montenegro had committed aggression against the Republic of Croatia, Parliament Vice President Vladimir Seks told reporters on Friday. Before it starts considering the essence of the application, the ICJ will have to establish whether the case is within its jurisdiction. Croatia believes the jurisdiction of the ICJ is entailed in the Genocide Convention, to which both Croatia and FRY are parties, as well as in the ICJ Statute. The ICJ is the highest U.N. judicial body, established after World War II with the aim of solving international disputes. Parties in a dispute can be only states, and not institutions or individuals. The Court is based in The Hague, the seat of another court, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). In 1993, Bosnia-Herzegovina submitted an application with the ICJ against the FRY for genocide and the Court accepted to consider the claim after it had agreed that the case was within its jurisdiction. This year, the FRY filed, unsuccessfully, claims against ten NATO member-countries, for the illegal use of force in air strikes. The Court judged that the claim was not in its jurisdiction. (hina) rml