Serbia seeks from ICJ to convict Croatia of genocide

THE HAGUE - Serbia wants the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to declare the Croatian armed forces’ 1995 Operation Storm a genocide against the Serbian people and to find Croatia guilty of violating the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Sasa Obradovic, Serbia’s agent to the ICJ, said in the country’s closing argument on Friday that Serbia has proved during the pleadings that Croatian authorities acted with “genocidal intent” in an attempt to destroy Krajina Serbs through murders, infliction of serious physical and mental harm and intentional imposition of living conditions aimed at destroying an ethnic group.

He said that Serbia’s counter-claim proposes that an ICJ judgment should hold Croatia liable to provide reparations to the Krajina Serbs for the suffering they had to endure during Operation Storm.

Serbia also wants for the Serbs who have not returned to Croatia to be enabled to freely return to their homes, Obradovic said.

It also proposes that the court orders that Operation Storm, during which a crime of genocide was committed against Serbs from the Krajina region, stops being celebrated as a national holiday in Croatia and that all perpetrators be punished, he said.

Serbia’s legal team argued that the Croatian genocide claim should be dismissed on the ground that Serbia cannot be held responsible for acts committed prior to its creation as a state on April 27, 1992.

Alternatively, if the court finds that it has jurisdiction for the period prior to that date, Croatia’s claim should be rejected on the grounds of being both factually and legally untenable, said Obradovic.

He stressed that the Serbian government is fully aware...