Hague Tribunal Prosecution Expects Croatia to Prosecute All Those Responsible for War Crimes as Soon as Possible

THE HAGUE, (Patria) - The Prosecution is satisfied with the Appeals Chamber judgment in the case of Prosecutor v. Jadranko Prlić and others, which in the most important aspects upheld the convictions handed down at trial against Jadranko Prlić, Bruno Stojić, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj Petković, Valentin Ćorić and Berislav Pušić, the Prosecution announced.

- The Appeals Chamber confirmed that the six accused, together with the then senior leaders of the Republic of Croatia, were key participants in a joint criminal enterprise aimed at the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims through the commission of crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other war crimes.

They shared the common goal of taking control of territory in Bosnia and Herzegovina to which they laid claim by forcibly displacing tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims, in order to enable the unification of the Croatian people in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Appeals Chamber confirmed that this criminal plan was carried out through the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims from their homes and communities in several municipalities, including Gornji Vakuf, Jablanica, Prozor, Mostar, Ljubuški, Stolac and Čapljina, in the period from mid-January 1993 to April 1994. From municipality to municipality, the forces of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) conducted military operations that involved widespread and systematic attacks on the civilian population. These attacks led to mass arrests and detention of thousands of Muslim civilians; separation of men from women, children and the elderly; confinement in inhumane conditions in a unique network of HVO detention centres; murders and the commission of many other crimes.

The Appeals Chamber further confirmed that the HVO, starting in June 1993, held East Mostar under siege for nearly ten months, during which it conducted a campaign of crimes against the civilian population. The goal was to spread terror among the Muslim population of East Mostar. The civilian population, which due to the ethnic cleansing of Muslims from West Mostar and other locations had more than doubled to approximately 55,000, was subjected to constant sniper fire and shelling, and forced to live in extremely difficult conditions. The already dire humanitarian situation was further exacerbated by the HVO's deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid deliveries.

As has been repeatedly established in cases before the Tribunal, today's judgment confirmed that an international armed conflict existed because Croatia had overall control over the HVO, which committed widespread crimes, as proven in this case. Croatia relieved Croatian Army officers of their duties to command HVO forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, provided logistical support and sent Croatian Army forces to Bosnia and Herzegovina to directly participate in the conflict.

The Appeals Chamber upheld the Trial Chamber's findings that key members of the then Croatian leadership, including President Franjo Tuđman, Defence Minister Gojko Šušak and Janko Bobetko, a senior Croatian Army general, shared the criminal goal of ethnically cleansing Bosnian Muslims and contributed to the achievement of that goal.

Responsible officials should promote the acceptance of these facts as a basis for reconciliation. The suffering of victims and survivors must be acknowledged.

Although these six accused have been found responsible for this campaign of ethnic cleansing, a larger number of high- and mid-ranking officials and commanders still must be brought to justice for these crimes. Many of them are available to the Croatian judiciary.

The Prosecution expresses its full support for the State Attorney's Office of the Republic of Croatia and expects it to urgently prosecute these cases. The Prosecution also calls on the Croatian authorities to allow the judicial process to move forward independently and impartially, which includes enabling regional legal cooperation - the Prosecution's statement reads.