Croatia has dropped its objections to Serbia’s EU accession negotiations, but it is not clear whether Serbia will fulfil Croatian demands.
Serbia does not intend to abolish its law on universal jurisdiction for war crimes committed in the territory of former Yugoslavia and will continue to apply it, said Milan Petrović, head of the Serbian Prosecutor’s Office for War Crimes, report Index.hr and Večernji List on July 14, 2016.
Significantly, this law was one of the reasons why Croatia blocked Serbia’s accession negotiations with the European Union. Croatia has recently agreed to unblock Serbia’s negotiations saying that Serbia had promised not to apply the law.
Petrović said that the statements from Croatia, that it would block further European integration of Serbia if the law is applied, would not affect the work of Serbian prosecutors, adding that there are current cases of war crimes in which suspects are Croatian citizens.
“Serbia is not considering the abolition of the law. The Prosecutor’s Office will apply the law to the full extent and scope. Its repeal would mean that we would not be able to prosecute war criminals and they would practically be able to live peacefully and avoid criminal liability”, said Petrović.
Asked by reporters how many Croatian citizens are currently being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office on suspicion of committing war crimes, Petrović said that they did not keep such records. “Since we are in the phase of preliminary investigation and the investigation is secret, I cannot answer any further questions. But, there are cases in which Croatian citizens are suspects, including Croatian war veterans”, said Petrović.
He added that this law was applied by Serbia from 2003 to 2011 without any protest from Croatia. He believes that the whole issue is politically motivated and that there are no legal grounds for the non-application of the law.
After Croatia unblocked Serbia’s negotiations, Croatian Foreign Minister Miro Kovač claimed that all Croatian demands had been accepted and incorporated into the European Union negotiating positions. He recently met with representatives of Croatian war veteran associations trying to convince them that all Croatian demands have been fulfilled.
