Croatian President Says No Innocents Will Be Convicted of War Crimes

Posted September 22nd, 2011 at 2:55 pm (UTC-5)
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Croatian President Ivo Josipovic says Croatia will work to ensure that no one who is innocent will be convicted of war crimes.

His comments Wednesday came after a Serbian court indicted more than 40 people for alleged crimes committed in the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar during the Balkan conflict of the 1990s.

In an interview on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mr. Josipovic told Voice of America that the indictments will be resolved through cooperation and improved relations between Croatia and Serbia.

A Serbian court this week indicted Croatian Deputy Parliament Speaker Vladimir Seks, three former high-ranking officials, and 40 other Croatians who took part in the war.

Clarifying his recent criticism of the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Mr. Josipovic said in the interview that while the trials have been a big opportunity to bring those most responsible to justice, there is a need for a high-level court to be much more precise in its indictments.

He mentioned the case of Croatian General Ivan Cermak, who was recently proclaimed innocent after having spent several years in The Hague's detention center.