Kolinda wrote to Ban Ki-moon: I am disappointed by the first-instance verdict against Vojislav Šešelj

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović sent letters to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President of the UN General Assembly Mogens Lykketoft, and President of the UN Security Council Liu Jieyi, regarding the first-instance verdict of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Šešelj case, the President's office announced, reported by the Patria News Agency.

The letters were delivered in New York and will be circulated to all UN member states as a document of the General Assembly and the Security Council, and ambassadors of EU and NATO member states in Croatia were informed about this this afternoon at the President's Office.

We are transmitting the letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations in its entirety:

“Dear Mr. Secretary-General,

As the President of the Republic of Croatia, I am deeply disappointed and concerned by the first-instance verdict of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Šešelj case. I am fully aware that the competent trial chamber of the ICTY is independent in its proceedings and decisions, and that this is a first-instance verdict rendered by a majority vote of a three-judge panel, subject to the final review of the appeals chamber.

Nevertheless, Mr. Secretary-General, it is quite clear that this verdict is not only contrary to the foundations and purpose of the ICTY, established in 1993 by UN Security Council Resolution 827, but is also deeply harmful to the process of establishing lasting reconciliation and national and religious tolerance in Southeast Europe.

At the same time, it should be added that on October 13, 2015, the then President of the ICTY, Theodor Meron, sent a letter to the Security Council reporting on the serious failure of the Republic of Serbia to respect its international obligations, following the fact that Serbia had not extradited three of its citizens accused before the ICTY for intimidating and bribing witnesses in the Šešelj case. To what extent such conduct has undermined the credibility and quality of testimony, we can only speculate, but it is an undeniable fact that important witnesses in the Šešelj case were intimidated, bribed, and obstructed in their testimony. In this context, the first-instance verdict is further legally questionable and completely compromised in terms of its credibility.

We expect not only Serbia to fully cooperate with the ICTY, but also to stop ignoring the fact that witnesses in the Šešelj case were treated in an impermissible manner, to the extent that the ICTY found it necessary to indict those responsible.

At the same time, this verdict is a very dangerous precedent for all other armed conflicts in which military objectives are sought through genocide and ethnic cleansing based on nationalist or racist ideology and criminal incitement propaganda.

The acquittal of Vojislav Šešelj – the embodiment of national and religious intolerance, a symbol of persecution and ethnic cleansing in the Republic of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Vojvodina (Republic of Serbia), and an instigator of the creation of a “Greater Serbia” through force and crimes – is completely contrary to the earlier factual and legal findings of the competent ICTY chambers regarding the armed conflict in the territory of the Republic of Croatia, and represents an absolute disrespect for the victims and their suffering, which still continues intensely.

This verdict has caused consternation in the Croatian public, but, consequently, also deep disappointment in the ICTY itself, which in this case has proven to be clearly resistant to the abuse of international public and criminal law. It will also negatively affect peace, reconciliation, and good neighborly relations in the wider region of Southeast Europe and all crisis hotspots in the world. This first-instance verdict by one trial chamber has profoundly shaken confidence in the ICTY and the reasons for which the UN Security Council established it.

My country, Croatia, strongly supported and welcomed the establishment of the ICTY during the war and open aggression against Croatia in 1991, and emphasized its particular importance from the very beginning, cooperating with it sincerely and actively.

Furthermore, the ICTY and its work are of great importance for the overall development of international criminal justice. Such a verdict creates a negative precedent whose consequences may extend beyond the scope of the ICTY itself and contaminate the overall perception of world public opinion about the significance, scope, and meaning of international criminal law.

In the context of all that has been written, I ask, Mr. Secretary-General, that you pay special attention to the successful completion of the ICTY's work, while at the same time taking into account the fundamental reasons for its establishment and especially respecting the rights of victims. In these endeavors, you will certainly have my full support and the support of Croatia.

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović