Belgrade accuses war crimes court of bias against Serbs

Belgrade accuses war crimes court of bias against Serbs

November 29, 2012 01:56 PM

Serbia's new president Tomislav Nikolic gestures as he arrives at the parliament building to take his oath of office in Belgrade May 31, 2012. (REUTERS/Marko Djurica)

BELGRADE: Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic angrily accused the UN war crimes tribunal of bias against Serbs after the acquittal Thursday of former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj on charges of murder and torture during the 1990s war. "The tribunal, apparently created outside international law, was set up to try the Serbian people," Nikolic said in a statement. "Nobody will be convicted for the terrible crimes against Kosovo Serbs." The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague acquitted Haradinaj and two others on charges of murdering and torturing Serbs and non-Albanians during Kosovo's 1998-99 war for independence from Belgrade. The verdict was issued less then two weeks after the ICTY cleared two Croatian generals, Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac, of war crimes against Serbs during the 1991-1995 war in Croatia in a verdict that also infuriated Belgrade. Thursday's ruling is "a severe blow to international justice and justice in general. It is a defeat of the international mission in Kosovo," said Serbian government spokesman Milivoje Mihajlovic, saying the mission failed to protect witnesses in the case. "The Hague tribunal has legalised mafia rule in Kosovo, above all, the omerta, the law of silence which still prevails and is stronger than any crime," he told AFP, referring to alleged witness intimidation during the Haradinaj trial. Nikolic said the ruling would complicate EU-mediated dialogue aimed at normalising relations between Belgrade and Pristina, which unilaterally proclaimed independence for ethnic-Albanian dominated Kosovo in 2008. Among ethnic Serbs on trial at the ICTY are Bosnian Serb wartime political and army chiefs Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic while Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic died in March 2006 during his trial for war crimes committed during the bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Six top former Serbian military and police officials have been sentenced for war crimes during the Kosovo conflict between ethnic Albanian separatist guerrillas and Belgrade security forces under Milosevic's command. No high-ranking official from any other ethnic communities has been sentenced for crimes against the Serbs during the Balkans wars.

 

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