Slobodan Milošević again became a topic in Serbian and regional media after the claims by certain Western analysts that The Hague Tribunal (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia), by pronouncing preliminary verdict to Radovan Karadžić, indirectly acquitted the former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia of accusations for participating in a criminal venture at the territory of BiH during the 1990s of the past century. These claims were supported by two Serbian ministers as well.
Assessments on Milošević’s innocence in media and official statements are grounded, among other things, on the paragraph 3460 from Karadžić’s verdict, according to which a conclusion can be drawn that “Milošević is acquitted of charges for ethnic cleansing and war crimes in BiH”.
“The West is silent about how Den Haag acquitted Milošević of charges for ethnic cleansing and war crimes in BiH, but Serbia must not and will not be silent,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the first Vice-President of the Serbian Government Ivica Dačić.
In Dačić’s written statement, it is emphasized that “there is no guilt on Milošević, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia” and that “the lies about genocide and war crimes that were a foundation for punishment of Serbia and the Serb nation were proven”.
“I am sure that confession will be made that Serbia was attacked on the basis of false and wrong accusations,” it was stated in the written statement by the Minister Dačić, namely the former close associate of Slobodan Milošević and the spokesman of Milošević’s Socialist Party of Serbia in the period from 1992 until 2000.
“In the paragraph 3280, the court concluded that Milošević was not a part of the joint criminal venture and that, exactly the opposite, he condemned the ethnic cleansing,” Dačić pointed out.
At the same time, while analyzing the verdict of Radovan Karadžić the US publicist and researcher of the work of The Hague Tribunal Andy Wilcoxson claims that conclusions of the South Korean Judge O-Gon Kwon indicate that Milošević did not participate in the so-called joint criminal venture with Radovan Karadžić “to establish the supremacy of Serb nation over other nations in BiH in the period from 1991 until 1995”.
“Former president of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was against the permanent elimination of Bosnian Muslims and Croats from the territories in BiH where Serbs live. He was doing everything to establish peace in Bosnia, he was critical about the decision of Bosnian Serbs to form the Republika Srpska,” Wilcoxon stated. He published his claims in his study “The Hague Tribunal acquitted Slobodan Milošević for Bosnian war crimes ten years too late”.
This US author also finds it interesting that the verdict to Radovan Karadžić was reached on March 24, 2016, precisely on the date when NATO started bombing Serbia in 1999.
President of the Liberal Democratic Party Čedomir Jovanović stated that “politicians who are trying to justify their role in the tragic policy of the 1990s” are the reason why Serbia “constantly stands in one place” and at the same time “the main catalyzer of constant heating of conflicts in the region”.
With the assessment that “in all countries of the former Yugoslavia there are people who live from the malignant nationalism and the worshiping of crimes”, Jovanović concluded that tragic mistakes from the past are being ignored in Serbia.
(Source: fokus.ba)
