Historic chance for world to hear about crimes against Serbs

BELGRADE - Savo Strbac, director of Belgrade-based Veritas Documentation and Information Center, said Wednesday that the genocide dispute with Croatia before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is a “historic opportunity” for the world to hear about crimes committed in this country against Serbs.

Strbac told Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) that The Hague-based tribunals have not yet convicted anyone for crimes committed against Serbs in Croatia.

Strbac is confident that Serbia cannot lose the dispute at the ICJ over Croatia’s claims and Serbia’s counter-claims alleging genocide, adding that it is a win-win situation for Serbia “even if the Court finds that there was no genocide against Serbs, as after the evidence is presented, the perception that only Serbs are criminals will change.”

Strbac said he does not think that the dispute before the ICJ could further sour relations between the two neighboring countries, adding that the Serbs in Croatia were in a bad position even before this trial, and according to estimates by certain international institutions, their position has never been worse than nowin the last fifteen years.

Disputes should be resolved in a civilized manner, before the court, Strbac said, adding that a possible deal between the political elites of the two countries for both to drop their claims would leave neither of the two nations satisfied.
“Viewed from a long-term perspective, the Court's decision, whatever it may be, is better than any kind of political agreement,” Strbac, who is also an expert on the Serbian legal team in the ICJ case, said.

He noted negatively that over the past two days, none of the members of the Croatian legal team at the ICJ has said...