Puhovski: We cannot say the Hague verdict is unjust; crimes were committed with Zagreb's knowledge

ZAGREB, (Patria) - Prominent Croatian political scientist, philosopher, political analyst, and long-time human rights activist Žarko Puhovski stated that he is bothered by the fact that in Croatia people are saying that the Hague verdict (against former leaders of the self-proclaimed Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia) is unjust, without anyone having even seen it. Puhovski added that people are only reacting to whether Croatia is endangered or not after this verdict, while other issues are being neglected.

"In my opinion, this will seriously harm the state of Croatia in political and other senses. This will severely harm the Croatian community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is no doubt about that. But that does not mean the verdict is unjust," Puhovski emphasized in the show Direkt on RTL, reported by Patria agency.

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in its appellate judgment against former leaders of the self-proclaimed Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia, determined that there was an international armed conflict in BiH and a state of occupation, and also confirmed the existence of a Croatian joint criminal enterprise aimed at ethnic cleansing of parts of BiH.

The Appeals Chamber, presided over by Carmel Agius, determined that the trial chamber had correctly established the existence of an international armed conflict, and that it had correctly determined that Croatia exercised control through local authorities in Herceg-Bosnia, confirming the existence of a state of occupation.

When asked if the repercussions of the Hague verdict would be long-term for Croatia, Puhovski said that they would be, especially, as he said, "if it continues with the president of the country sending enthusiastic letters on the occasion of Praljak, three or four days ago, and if the prime minister tries to take some kind of non-aligned position, where he wavers somewhere between crimes and criminals. That is wrong.".

"Anyone who lived in Croatia in the '90s knows very well that what Tuđman and Šušak said was happening in the so-called Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia. There is no doubt about that. The crimes that were committed there were committed at least with the knowledge of Zagreb – I don't believe they were orders – but certainly with knowledge. But no one is able to say that today, because both the left and the right have accepted Tuđman as an icon, he must not be touched, Croatia must not be touched, and then who suffers – the victims suffer for the second time,", Puhovski believes.

He believes that the concept of socializing crime has been accepted in Croatia, which means, he explained, "they killed for us, and we owe them because they killed for us.".

"That is the difference between murder and theft. I can assure you that I killed for you, but I cannot assure you that I stole for you if you don't have new money in your account. And that happened, it was accepted that they killed for us, that we owe them, and that they enabled us to survive, all of us as the Croatian nation. As long as this is not overcome – and this is a primitive nationalist syndrome – Croatia will be constantly harmed," Puhovski concluded.