Tuesday, 07 July 2020. | |
Minister Dacic: Serbia will apologize to no-one for passing a guilty verdict on those responsible |
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![]() I would like to stress that it is absolutely unacceptable to interfere in the work of the judiciary, particularly when it comes to war crime trials. War crimes have a universal character and all victims deserve that the perpetrators be brought to justice and punished for their acts. My question is as follows - are the crimes committed against the Serbs of lesser importance and should they be met with impunity? The fight against impunity for crimes is one of the fundamental postulates of the modern-day legal order and rule of law. Given that they say that this issue falls within their competence, why did not Bosnia and Herzegovina by now already try Husein Mujanovic for crimes against Serbs in Sarajevo, a head warden of Hrasnica camp who had illegally imprisoned 30 Serb civilians who were severely tortured there and a number of them killed? Only by shedding light on all crimes committed during the armed conflicts in the territory of the former Yugoslavia and through court trials of the perpetrators can we achieve durable reconciliation. The Law on the Organization and Competences of State Authorities in War Crimes Proceedings has been fully harmonized with the international law, practices and customs in modern states, and war crime trials in Serbia have not only dealt with crimes committed against Serbs, but against Croats and Muslims as well. Therefore, we refute in the strongest terms the claims made by Sarajevo that this was both a legal and political instrument. Taking into account that the Serbian Foreign Ministry was informed by Ambassador Aida Smajic that she was summoned to Sarajevo for consultation, I have in response summoned Serbian Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Aleksandar Djordjevic to Belgrade for immediate consultation. For this reason, he will not be able to have a meeting with Sefik Dzaferovic that he was invited to, and will only return to Sarajevo once the Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina returns to Belgrade. Serbia will never apologize to anyone for passing a guilty verdict on those who were killing Serbs", First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic said in a statement for Tanjug news agency. |