Croatia's attack on Mesić fully admits participation in the JCE

By Haris Ljevo

The Hague Tribunal yesterday delivered a final verdict in the case of Jadranko Prlić and five other individuals convicted of horrific war crimes in BiH in areas controlled by the HVO, confirming that a joint criminal enterprise was conducted in BiH by the then-regime of Croatia, led by President Franjo Tuđman and Defense Minister Gojko Šušak.

After being sentenced to 20 years in prison, Slobodan Praljak pulled out a vial of poison and committed suicide.

Reactions from the Croatian state leadership following the verdicts showed that official Croatia, led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, and Speaker of Parliament Gordan Jandroković, is fully aware of the crimes for which the so-called Herceg-Bosnia six have been convicted.

The initial reactions involved mutual accusations as to why the official Croatian authorities had not done more in the previous period to conceal the evidence obtained by the Hague Tribunal, and the main target of the attacks was former President Stipe Mesić, who they claimed, through his open cooperation with the Tribunal, practically enabled the Court to obtain all the evidence that criminalized the Croatian state leadership.

Therefore, in the initial reactions, the Court's findings were not denied in any way, but rather a culprit was sought for the "betrayal" of Croatian national interests.

Only after the "ammunition" and poisoned arrows against Mesić and his administration ran out, did they embark on a futile attempt to defend what the Court had unequivocally established – the joint criminal enterprise.

Considering Slobodan Praljak a hero because he lacked the courage to face the atrocities for which he was convicted represents pure cowardice, just like Praljak's act of suicide itself.

Attempts are being made to portray Praljak as a martyr who sacrificed himself for the Croatian cause, with prayers and candle-lighting ceremonies organized in public places, even though the Church itself considers suicide a grave sin, and individuals who commit suicide are even denied burial in cemeteries.

Croatia, an EU member state, organizes a minute of silence in Parliament to honor a convicted war criminal, an act unprecedented in modern European history, while simultaneously striving daily to present itself as a country that does not belong to the "backward Balkan society," but rather elevates itself above the rest of the Balkans or the region, as it is often called today.

Official Croatia has put itself in a position where even Serbia, most responsible for the outbreak of wars in the former Yugoslavia, is lecturing it morally. Not even Serbia, which has been marked by numerous rulings of the Hague Tribunal as the only European country for failing to prevent the genocide in Srebrenica, has gone so far as to hold minutes of silence in parliament for convicted war criminals, while Croatia has.

Plenković and Grabar-Kitarović stated that Croatia does not recognize the Court's verdict on the joint criminal enterprise, which is an unprecedented precedent in history.

UN member states, founders of the International Criminal Tribunal, are not there to accept or reject verdicts, but to respect and abide by them.

Croatia, by attacking Mesić for his cooperation with the Tribunal, has actually directly admitted its participation in the JCE, because, according to official Croatia, he is to blame for not working to conceal evidence.