Dear Prime Minister Milanović,
The Conclusion Proposal on cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters adopted at yesterday’s session, and your statement and the statement of Minister Miljenić, are a striking example of a discourse which prevents the process of reconciliation, and search for facts and justice for war crimes committed in the region during the 1990s.
It is false and almost unlawful to adopt a conclusion that directly refuses to admit the findings of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which constitutes an integral part of our legal system. Recognising the findings of ICTY judgments is your obligation and the obligation of anyone representing the Republic of Croatia in any capacity. Further, the publication of officially adopted conclusions, which presuppose the decision of the ICTY Appellate Chamber is also an unlawful act.
Let us remind you, ICTY has confirmed, in a range of cases, that the Republic of Croatia participated in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina together with the forces of Bosnian Croats (the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), forces of the so-called Croatian Community, later so-called Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia). These are the following cases: Aleksovski (IT-95-14/1), Blaškić (IT-95-14), Bralo (IT-95-17), Furundžija (IT-95-17/1), Kordić and Čerkez (IT-95-14/2), Kupreškić et al. (IT-95-16), Naletilić and Martinović (IT-98-34).
In these cases, the ICTY applied the ‘overall control test’ (especially in the Aleksovski case, paragraph 154 of the Appellate Chamber judgment, following the conclusions from the Tadić case (IT-94-1)), which confirmed that the Republic of Croatia had a control over the HVO forces as well, that is, that these forces acted together.
Further, in the case of Prlić et al. (IT-04-74), the Trial Chamber, in Volume 3, Paragraph 568 of the trial judgment, concluded that “the Chamber by majority […] is satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the armed conflict was international in nature due both to the direct involvement of the HV in the conflict pitting the HVO and ABiH against one another and to the overall control wielded by the HV and by Croatia over the HVO.”
Prime Minister Milanović, you and the Government simply do not have legitimacy to adopt this conclusion. By adopting this conclusion, you have exited the scope of law in which you are allowed to act, thus abusing public duty for the promotion of your personal petty politics.
Further, you have an obligation, as a Prime Minister of the state which has recently suffered devastation of an armed conflict, to abide by the UN guidelines in guaranteeing the non-repetition of mass violations of human rights. Accordingly, in addition to a legal obligation, you also have a political, civilizational obligation to refrain from statements and activities that contribute to instability in the region. Such instability is certainly contributed to by the conclusions like this one, which does not have a basis either in the law or facts.
We therefore request that you prevent the adoption of this Conclusion and apologise to all victims whose rights were grossly violated during the war of the 1990s as a result of actions of the Croatian authorities of that time on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We propose that you begin the next session of the Government by a minute of silence for these victims a a symbolic sign of apology.
