ZAGREB, Feb 21 (Hina) - The President of the Serb People's Party (SNS) and the only Serb deputy to the Croatian National Sabor, Milan Djukic, said in an interview he granted to Hina on Monday what the Serb community was expecting from
new Croatian authorities. "We expect from the new Government that it let the Hague Tribunal tackle the crimes committed against Serbs during the (1995) military operations "Flash" and "Storm", as well as that it change several discriminatory laws that still treat Croatian Serbs as second-class citizens," Djukic said. The Croatian Serb leader stressed that it was important that the Government enables everybody to have the equal rights during the return process. In Djukic's mind, the national parliament should amend laws which he views as discriminatory for Serbs - the citizenship act, the law on the temporary take-over of the abandoned property, the law on areas
ZAGREB, Feb 21 (Hina) - The President of the Serb People's Party
(SNS) and the only Serb deputy to the Croatian National Sabor, Milan
Djukic, said in an interview he granted to Hina on Monday what the
Serb community was expecting from new Croatian authorities.
"We expect from the new Government that it let the Hague Tribunal
tackle the crimes committed against Serbs during the (1995)
military operations "Flash" and "Storm", as well as that it change
several discriminatory laws that still treat Croatian Serbs as
second-class citizens," Djukic said.
The Croatian Serb leader stressed that it was important that the
Government enables everybody to have the equal rights during the
return process.
In Djukic's mind, the national parliament should amend laws which
he views as discriminatory for Serbs - the citizenship act, the law
on the temporary take-over of the abandoned property, the law on
areas of the special state care, the amnesty law, the law and decree
adjustment act and the reconstruction act.
Contents of many of these acts are not contentious for Djukic but
they are burdened with numerous decrees and instructions with which
the former Government had "disputed them on the ground".
Djukic assessed that there were now about 160,000 Serbs in
Yugoslavia (Serbia/Montenegro) who had left Croatia since 1991.
The Bosnian Serb entity has received some 60,000 Croatian Serbs.
He maintained that those could return in Croatia if their houses
were returned to them or if new houses were built for such
returnees. "Serb houses were set on fire by members of the Croatian
Army and police. Those were not incidents, it was done by design,"
Djukic claimed.
According to him, "the Croatian authorities must give the answer
where there are graves of citizens of the Serb nationalities."
If we have said that Serbs committed crimes in this war, and they
did, as mass graves have been unearthed, and I believe others will
be dug up thanks to persistent efforts - then one should give the
answer where missing Serbs were buried, Djukic said.
All crimes committed during the Flash and Storm when, according to
him "5,673 citizens of the Serb nationalities went missing", are
equal to crimes committed during the Serb policy conducted by
Martic and Babic (two notorious Serb rebel leaders whose units,
supported by the then Yugoslav Army, occupied one fourth of Croatia
at one time). He asserted that Martic and Babic "were neither
product nor will of the Serb people in Croatia."
Djukic did not want to forecast how many Serbs would come back to
Croatia. "Why should I forecast?" he replied adding that citizens
are returning to their property and not somebody else's.
The return of Serbs on a massive scale cannot be either
theoretically or practically, he concluded.
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