ZAGREB, July 16 (Hina) - Croatian Justice Minister Zvonimir Separovic told Hina on Friday the Yugoslav government's statement that the aggression charge Croatia recently pressed against Yugoslavia at the International Court of Justice
(ICJ) in The Hague was not legally founded was not at all unexpected. The Yugoslav government assessed on Thursday Croatia's claim does not have "any legal foundation" and is in truth only part of an "orchestrated pressure on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY)".
ZAGREB, July 16 (Hina) - Croatian Justice Minister Zvonimir
Separovic told Hina on Friday the Yugoslav government's statement
that the aggression charge Croatia recently pressed against
Yugoslavia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague
was not legally founded was not at all unexpected.
The Yugoslav government assessed on Thursday Croatia's claim does
not have "any legal foundation" and is in truth only part of an
"orchestrated pressure on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
(FRY)".#L#
"It is known that even in the case of Bosnia-Herzegovina's (BH)
aggression charge against it, the FRY (Serbia/Montenegro) launched
a counter claim. That didn't prevent the BH claim from being
accepted, and now a two-way presentation of evidence is taking
place, to prove accountability for genocide and to establish the
material and war damage," Separovic said.
The case with Croatia's claim is similar and its legal basis is the
Convention on Preventing the Crime of Genocide, he added.
"I am sure our claim will succeed," the justice minister asserted.
Separovic reminded that The Hague-based International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia Appeals Chamber on Thursday
turned down an appeal lodged by Bosnian Serb Dusko Tadic.
"The Appeals Chamber concluded the conflict in BH was an
international conflict. There is evidence on a direct military
command link from Belgrade which, according to the chief
prosecutor's assistant, could facilitate indictments against
Yugoslav military and political leadership. This also stands for
the accountability of the FRY as a state, accused before the ICJ by
both BH and Croatia," he assessed.
Separovic was asked to comment on Belgrade's view that Croatia's
claim against Yugoslavia is contrary to the normalisation of
relations between the two countries.
Croatia wants to have normal relations with its neighbours, the
minister said. That however, "cannot be an obstacle to
establishing, in the name of justice and historical truth, FRY's
responsibility, especially of its JNA (former federal Yugoslav
army), for the destruction of Vukovar, Skabrnja, Zadar, Dubrovnik,
and other places in which the JNA committed crimes."
"The responsibility of the FRY and (its President) Milosevic is not
a matter of question," the justice minister said, pointing out he
was sure the international humanitarian law is on Croatia's side.
(hina) ha