SPLIT, Aug 28 (Hina) - On the eve of his hearing before the Sarajevo cantonal court, the president of Bosnia's Croat National Congress, Ante Jelavic, has said he stands by everything he has done and that the trial is rigged. In an
interview with Split's Slobodna Dalmacija daily of Wednesday, Jelavic says he does not bother about the consequences of tomorrow's hearing. Anything can happen, he said, adding he would not be surprised if he were imprisoned. In another interview, with Croatia's largest circulation daily, Vecernji List, also of Wednesday, he said he would not be surprised if they took him straight to the Hague war crimes tribunal. "At no moment did I hesitate if I should comply with the court's summons, regardless of the fact that I cannot accept this judicial system in an atmosphere of the blackest neo-colonial protectorate in which one man is judge, prosecutor, executor, and juror," Jelavic told Slo
SPLIT, Aug 28 (Hina) - On the eve of his hearing before the Sarajevo
cantonal court, the president of Bosnia's Croat National Congress,
Ante Jelavic, has said he stands by everything he has done and that
the trial is rigged.
In an interview with Split's Slobodna Dalmacija daily of Wednesday,
Jelavic says he does not bother about the consequences of
tomorrow's hearing. Anything can happen, he said, adding he would
not be surprised if he were imprisoned.
In another interview, with Croatia's largest circulation daily,
Vecernji List, also of Wednesday, he said he would not be surprised
if they took him straight to the Hague war crimes tribunal.
"At no moment did I hesitate if I should comply with the court's
summons, regardless of the fact that I cannot accept this judicial
system in an atmosphere of the blackest neo-colonial protectorate
in which one man is judge, prosecutor, executor, and juror,"
Jelavic told Slobodna Dalmacija.
Jelavic maintains the international community's High
Representative in Bosnia, Wolfgang Petritsch, exerted crucial
influence in the launching of court proceedings against him, and
that his was the biggest influence in the politically rigged
process.
"Part of the current international community's administration is
also implicated, as is probably part of the ruling Alliance (in
Bosnia) who see in me the biggest obstacle to the realisation of
their concept of the state, namely the division of the state into
two parts with a Serb and Bosniak majority and Croats as a national
minority," said Jelavic.
He added his relations with Petritsch had been correct and that he
had always told him he wanted Bosnian Croats to have the same rights
as Bosniaks and Serbs. Jelavic maintains the High Representative
has been forced to take the steps he has taken and that this is the
key problem in Bosnia.
As for the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague, Jelavic said he
advocated cooperation as the tribunal should establish individual
responsibility based on facts.
He added, however, he could not accept and would staunchly oppose
the criminalisation of the 1990s defence war and attempts to depict
Bosnian Croats as quislings in the own country.
The Sarajevo cantonal court has charged Jelavic and six of his
associates of undermining Bosnia's territorial integrity by
advocating Croat self-rule.
(hina) ha