Association President Kosta Novakovic said that the Association had analysed the ongoing trials against Serbs in Croatia and concluded that they are politically motivated and negate any responsibility for the civil war. Of the 21,255 procedures recorded so far are used to blame the Serbian people since the accused are ascribed ranks they did not hold to make them seem more culpable. He opined that the Croatian judiciary does not care for arguments but sentences and many of the cases are tried in absentia where the charged are represented by court appointed attorneys who are not that interested in the outcome. The accused are also faced with lacking documentation, said Novakovic, presenting a number of actual cases. He added that Serbia had only had a handful of war crime trials against Crimes which ended in acquittals and subsequent release.

“Serbia has no Croats charged with war crimes or on trial for war crimes against Serbs”, Novakovic concluded.

He said that all of this serves Croatia as grounds for war reparations, the country mentioning some 300 billion EUR of indemnification to be demanded from Serbia. He said that these politically-motivated trials are discriminatory toward Serbs in terms of prison sentences and since most of the accused are in Serbia it turns out that Serbia is now home to more than 15,000 criminals.

Association secretary Djordje Prazic talked about Croatia’s ongoing anti-Serb campaign adding that over 63,000 Serbs and Yugoslavs had been exiled. He presented a number of cases and informed Committee Chairman Linta about the Navy Veteran Association newly-established in January in Belgrade.

Association member, lawyer Radivoj Nikolic presented the essence of the war crime trials against Serbs in Croatia. He said that they are legally underrepresented and there are serious problems in securing funds for their legal expenses. The Croatian judiciary follows a matrix according to which all members of the Yugoslav Armed Forces and all who took part in the war are war criminals. What is especially disheartening is the fact that the Serbian public knows little about these trials and that the media are largely uninterested. He concluded that the Serbian authorities need to intervene against these politically staged trials, adding that Croatia currently has 3,600 trials against Serbs, most of which are in Serbia.

Committee Chairman Miodrag Linta said that the Serbian state had failed to give this problem due attention since 1995 to date, especially in view of the fact that Croatia’s policy is to present Serbia as the aggressor, proof of which will be thousands of charges and sentences against Serbs.

“It is high time Serbia did something to protect itself and its citizens”, Linta concluded.

He agreed with the Association representatives that the objective of the politically-motivated trials in Croatia is to represent the Serbian people as the aggressor and the Croats as a people involved in a just defensive war. He added that he had asked some of the state authorities to pursue a policy of reciprocity against Croatia as that is the only right way to face Croatia’s unfriendly policy against the Serbian state and people. Linta added that he would help the Association organize meetings with the President and Prime Minister to make sure the state stands behind its people and helps its citizens prove their innocence. He also asked to define a number of measures and activities adding that it would be good if the Ministry of Justice set up a legal aid office to offer advice to the accused, secure funds for the legal expenses of suspected and charged Serbs and launch proceedings by our War Crimes Office against the members of Croat and Bosniak military, paramilitary and police forces who committed or ordered crimes against Serbs across Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Linta also said that he was asking that a new law secure double service time for Krajina soldiers for the duration of the war.

Linta accepted the Association’s request to convene a special siting of the Committee on the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region to discuss the problem.