First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic has stated that a group of forgotten individuals, namely Tadic, Ceda Jovanovic, Pajtic, Canak et al, are these days horrified by the alleged rehabilitation of Milosevic, although no one had even mentioned this or glorified the nineties.

"These are deliberate lies on their part, since the battle against Milosevic and his crimes was the main motivation behind their political existence. And now they also have an issue with the Hague Tribunal, since it concluded that Milosevic, and conversely Serbia as well, was not responsible for war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is where such political hysteria comes from. They are not concerned with Milosevic and the nineties, yet are merely attempting to defend themselves and the policy they pursued in the 1990s, one based on the premise that Serbia had committed war crimes and that the state leadership of Serbia, headed by Milosevic, constituted a joint criminal enterprise. Nevertheless, it was exactly the Hague Tribunal that concluded the opposite, exonerating Milosevic of alleged war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, noting that he was not part of a joint criminal enterprise, and that, on the contrary, he was the one who had condemned ethnic cleansing.

What the ruling stated in reference to Milosevic, applies to Serbia as well. The Hague Tribunal does not only try individuals. It used the joint criminal enterprise legal doctrine to put Serbia on trial. Every Hague Tribunal ruling is at the same time a ruling against Serbia. This is why every Serbian citizen who means well to Serbia should be glad for such a turn of events.

And I am not saying all of this because of the past, but for the sake of Serbia's future. Tadic, Pajtic, Ceda, Canak and others representing the tattered former opposition live in the past, in the belief they would be able to mislead someone twice using the same storyline. This time The Hague is of no help to them. Repeating this story again is a travesty, coming from the mouths of former and current members of the Democratic Party (DS), namely Tadic, Ceda and Pajtic, who, at a time when Milosevic exerted pressure on Karadzic to accept the peace plan, were in Pale trying to convince Radovan to reject it.

It was Ceda who signed a guarantee to Milosevic upon his arrest that he would not be extradited to The Hague.

Tadic, when he needed the Socialists the most, at the meeting of the Democratic Party's Main Board on 7 June 2008, literally said that the DS and the SPS (Socialist Party of Serbia) were facing the fact that their leaders were no longer with them (Djindjic and Milosevic) and that both parties had their own pain to suffer, but that they needed to show readiness in the future and try to ensure better chances for every citizen of Serbia. Pajtic also voted in favour of that coalition, so how come that he is only now bothered with the fact that The Hague did not find Milosevic guilty?

Vuk Draskovic, who was the first to form the Serbian National Guard and send it to Croatia in August 1991, today speaks of Milosevic's war guard corps. Vuk Draskovic is the forerunner of the nationalist movement, and the Declaration on the establishment of SPO (Serbian Renewal Movement) of March 1990 stated that non-nationalist behaviour is tantamount to treason, and that not a square foot of land drenched in Serbian blood, or where Serbian churches and graveyards can be found, would ever be subject to secession. It is such a policy that led to Serbs being tried by the Hague Tribunal today.

Serbia should aim at the future, and besides, Serbia has made most progress in any regard only after them losing power. The legacy they left behind implies a devastated economy, companies closed, workers made redundant, individuals gaining wealth and people of Serbia impoverished. One does not need the Hague Tribunal to make the verdict, the people of Serbia can do it themselves. All of them together combined have earned less votes than the election ticket I have headed. This is the best verdict.

Serbia continues further, aiming to fulfil common interests of its people, while leaving the divisions of the past behind. There should be no divisions on this issue, that Serbia was not responsible for war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. While Milosevic, much like the rest of us, will be judged by history and the time."