Citizens’ Association of War Victims “April 16” Ahmici strongly condemns the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) President Lidija Bradara‘s (HDZ) statements about war criminal Dario Kordic, whom she claims is her friend.
The Association believes that such statements set an example for young people that crime pays off, and that the criminal becomes a myth and a martyr in his people, which motivates future criminals.
“That’s why her statement, no matter how criminogenic, should be reacted to by the High Representative in BiH, it is above all very dangerous precisely because it can motivate some future crimes against Bosniaks. It is clear that Croat leaders do not want catharsis and that they do not respect the victims,” the Association stated.
They believe that the High Representative in BiH, Christian Schmidt, should react to the glorification of war criminals and sanction the promoters of war criminals.
“In this case, a high-ranking politician who, from the position of the President of the FBiH, points to European values. War criminals are not European values. We remind you that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) ruled that the murders in Ahmici were a crime against humanity, and one of the commanders of this action, Dario Kordic, was sentenced to 25 years. He was released at the beginning of June 2014. He was then welcomed in Busovaca, where he was welcomed by HDZ president Dragan Covic, Bradara, Marinko Cavara, and Borjana Kristo,” the Association adds.
These statements are a reaction to Bradara’s statements in the N1 Television program when she repeated that she does not renounce her friend, nor war criminal Dario Kordic, concluding that he “probably stopped being a war crime convict” after serving his sentence.
It should be recalled that Kordic was accused of war crimes against the Bosniak population in the village of Ahmici, where on April 16th, 1993, members of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) killed 116 Bosniak civilians, including 35 women and 11 children, the youngest of whom was three months old.
The Hague Court established that the attack on Ahmici was ordered by Kordic, aware of what could happen. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and after serving two-thirds of the sentence he was released.
E.Dz.
