Hague Prosecutor: Croatian Govt ‘Blocking’ War Crime Cases

The chief prosecutor at the Hague war crimes, Serge Brammertz, told the UN Security Council that the Zagreb government is effectively blocking cases against former Croatian Army and Croatian Defence Council fighters.

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Serge Brammertz in The Hague in 2011. Photo: EPA/ROBIN UTRECHT.

Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor at the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, said in his report to the UN Security Council in New York on Monday that the Croatian government’s actions have resulted the blocking of a large and growing number of cases against Croatian Army and Croatian Defence Council fighters.

Brammertz’s report said that the Croatian government has not reversed a decision it made in 2015 ordering the Justice Ministry in Zagreb not to provide court cooperation in certain war crimes cases, and is continuing to exert pressure on judicial processes.

Despite direct efforts by the prosecutor’s office at the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals to convince the Croatian authorities to change their policy, little progress has been made, the report said.

“Such a policy has an influence on promoting impunity to the detriment of victims throughout the region who deserve justice,” said Brammertz’s report.

He urged the Croatian government to revoke its decision and “allow the process of justice to continue without further interference”.

The report said that the reduced cooperation by Croatian authorities has led to important deadlocks in investigations and criminal procedures in neighbouring countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, where some former fighters from the Croatian Army and the Bosnian Croat wartime force, the Croatian Defence Council, are wanted for trial.

Zagreb refuses to cooperate with neighbouring countries in war crimes cases if the indictments claim that the suspects participated in a joint criminal enterprise with Croatian political or military officials.

Brammertz also criticised a decision by Zagreb County Court in October to reduce the sentence handed down to former Bosnian Croat battalion commander Marko Radic because Croatian law does not recognise the concept of a joint criminal enterprise.

Radic had been convicted of committing crimes against humanity by the Bosnian state court, but the Zagreb court agreed to take over the enforcement of the verdict after the Bosnian justice minister allowed him to serve his sentence in Croatia.

The Zagreb court then cut Radic’s sentence from 21 years to 12-and-a-half years, which means he will be released by the end of this year due to time already served.

“Victims and the public find it very hard to understand how the sentence for such grave crimes could be reduced to such an extent only on the basis of the takeover by Croatia,” Branmertz’s report said.

The president of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, Theodor Meron, also presented a report to the UN Security Council on Monday, saying that the appeals verdict in the trial of former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic could be expected within the first three months of next year.

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