MP Beus Richembergh receives death threats over statement on Praljak

ZAGREB, (Patria) - MP Goran Beus Richembergh from the Glas party has received death threats due to his stance on the minute of silence for Slobodan Praljak in the Croatian Parliament. He has reported everything to the police.

The GLAS MP refused to participate in the minute of silence for General Slobodan Praljak, who yesterday drank poison in the Hague courtroom after the court confirmed his first-instance sentence of 20 years in prison for participating in a joint criminal enterprise and war crimes during the war in BiH.

- The Speaker of Parliament yesterday announced the reading of a statement he formulated as if it were a statement from all parliamentary groups. That statement only reached us this morning, it was not agreed upon at all. It is not, let's be clear, very controversial, only in some details should there have been consultation, but in this case it is a statement by the Speaker of Parliament, so it is not a statement of the Croatian Parliament as a whole, so it does not matter whether we were present (at the reading and minute of silence) or not - said Beus Richembergh.

- This is the highest legislative body in the country. So this is an institution, this is a house of law, the rule of law, and we must not, due to some double standards or emotional charge, which is of course allowed, which is legitimate, especially in situations like this when victims seek their respect on all sides, actually allow standards to be lowered. So, in parliament, one cannot pay tribute with a minute of silence to someone who is a final convicted war criminal. The formulation given by Mr. Jandroković in that regard is somewhat more conciliatory. He called for a minute of silence for all victims, and then mentioned only one by name. That may not be correct and one should be consistent here - Beus Richembergh points out.

Because of this stance and a post the day before on his Facebook profile, Beus Richembergh also received serious death threats.

'- Thank you to everyone who kept a cool head, no matter how hot their heart, whose common sense opposed attempts to manipulate their emotions and who supported GLAS's firm and consistent stance to preserve the fundamental principles of the rule of law so that the interests of the victims are always in the foreground, not those who participated in or were responsible for war crimes.

I also received hundreds of vile and primitive insults. They come with the risks of performing a public duty and, as difficult as it is to accept because they reflect a poor political culture, they fall under freedom of expression, freedom of speech. However, open death threats I have forwarded to the police for further action. They will presumably determine whether they are serious or not - Beus wrote on Facebook.