Croatia and Serbia are arguing again over Bosnia and Herzegovina, victims are not even mentioned

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - After the verdicts against Karadžić, Mladić, and former leaders of the self-proclaimed Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna, Serbia and Croatia are acting as if these verdicts do not concern them, analysts believe. Following the guilty verdict against the Croatian six in The Hague, a media war is unfolding between official Belgrade and Zagreb. They are proving who participated more and who participated less in the battlefields during the war in BiH. Meanwhile, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the victims are only mentioned peripherally.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has criticized Croatia on several occasions after the verdicts in The Hague. He speaks of the victims in BiH only as a collective guilt. He mainly emphasizes Serbia, which, as he says, has been enduring and remaining silent all along.

"There is only one verdict that they (Croatia) do not like, and immediately they are against political verdicts, against the Tribunal as a whole, unacceptable, unjust, etc. So who are you fooling anymore? And how long should we remain silent? Well, we will not remain silent, so what will you do now?" Vučić stated.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković stated after the verdict against the six that it is absurd that the Hague Tribunal did not establish the responsibility of the former state leadership of Serbia in the joint criminal enterprise aimed at establishing "Greater Serbia," while it did so in the case of Croatia. Plenković also mentioned the victims only as a secondary matter, which is criticized by the respected Croatian political scientist and analyst Žarko Puhovski.

Even after a series of verdicts by the Hague Tribunal on war crimes in BiH for which these countries are also responsible, Croatia and Serbia do not want to address the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina clearly and ask for forgiveness for the committed crimes.

Eugen Jakovčić from the Centre for Dealing with the Past Documenta said that Croatia should distance itself from the "criminal creation of Herceg-Bosna, which, he believes, has caused a great deal of harm not only to Bosniaks but also to Croats."

Croatian lawyer Anto Nobilo also believes that Croatia must distance itself from the bad ideology of the 1990s as soon as possible if it wants to be an equal European country.

Analysts warn that there is a complete distortion of theses when it comes to the past war against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Victims speak of peace, prosperity, and a common future, while convicted countries and national leaders protest, deny verdicts, issue threats, and discuss mutual guilt.

"Yesterday at a press conference by Bakir Izetbegović, a member of the BiH Presidency, a journalist asked if he had spoken with Dragan Čović, a colleague from the Presidency. Izetbegović said he had not spoken with Čović. The question arises, should Izetbegović have called Čović after the verdict, or should Čović have called Izetbegović and offered to work together on correcting past mistakes. I think Čović should have extended the hand of reconciliation first," reads one of the comments on social networks.

Another comment reads: "If this crime against BiH had by any chance been a Serbian-Croatian tragedy, the details, along with all-encompassing humanity, would have been known to alligators and giraffes in Africa, Siberian tigers, Indian cobras..."

Most media in Serbia and Croatia these days call the Tribunal an unjust, even criminal court.

The media war between Serbia and Croatia and the neglect of victims was also noticed by former Croatian President Ivo Josipović. At a gathering in Belgrade, he told reporters that he regretted that the media focused more on the suicide in the courtroom of Slobodan Praljak, while no one dealt with the victims, and he expressed condolences to the victims' families.