Kordić's thanking of faith can be his personal matter, no one has the right to kill in its name

No one has the right to kill in the name of faith and invoke faith as a justification for war, including Dario Kordić, said Franjo Topić, president of the Croatian Cultural Society "Napredak", for the BH news agency Patria.

Namely, Kordić was sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague to 25 years in prison for crimes against humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war, and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions committed against Bosniak civilians in the Lašva Valley in 1993, and especially for the crimes in Ahmići.

However, after arriving in Zagreb a few days ago, having served two-thirds of his prison sentence and becoming eligible for release, where he was welcomed by about 200 supporters, Kordić tearfully said that after everything, he thanked God and the Catholic faith, but did not apologize for the crimes against the Bosniak population.

Dario Kordić (54) was the vice-president and member of the presidency of the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosnia, and later the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosnia, and for a time also the president of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ-BiH).

Due to the responsibility he held during the massacre in Ahmići and the Bosniak-Croat conflict in central Bosnia, the ICTY sentenced him to 25 years in prison.

Kordić's sentence was definitively confirmed by the ICTY Appeals Chamber in 2004. It was stated that Kordić, "as a high-ranking regional politician, planned and incited the crimes committed in Ahmići on April 16, 1993, and the associated hamlets of Šantići, Pirići, and Nadioci" with the aim of "ethnic cleansing of the area," and confirmed his criminal responsibility for these acts on all grounds.

The ICTY Appeals Chamber also confirmed that "Kordić's involvement in the campaign of persecution" extended to crimes committed in the municipality of Kiseljak and responsibility for the unlawful detention of civilians in detention centers in the Vitez and Kiseljak areas.

Professor Topić said that Kordić can thank God if his faith helped him endure certain periods of his life. It is even better if he repented for what he did, that is even desirable. But no one should invoke God for killing and waging war. Faith, he says, strictly distances itself from such people.

- John Paul II pointed this out countless times, even when he was in Sarajevo - Topić told Patria.