Halilovic was accused of crimes committed by Bosnian Army troops against Bosnian Croats in the villages of Grabovica and Uzdol during an operation code-named 'Neretva'. According to the verdict rendered by the ICTY on Wednesday, the relevant trial chamber "has found that the Prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Sefer Halilovic was either de jure or de facto commander of the alleged operation called Operation Neretva,"
The HDZ BH issued a statement today saying the party was disappointed to see that the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal was not treating crimes against Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the same way as other war crimes.
The strongest Bosnian Croat party also accused the ICTY of having downplayed the number of victims killed in the said villages.
"The truth is that in the village of Grabovica over 30 innocent Croat civilians, including women and children, were cruelly murdered, rather than 13 civilians as stated in the (Halilovic) indictment," the party said in the statement among other things.