"Genocide bar raised very high" - outgoing Croat president

"Genocide bar raised very high" - outgoing Croat president

ZAGREB -- Ivo Josipovic says he is not satisfied with the judgment of the ICJ that dismissed Croatian and Serbian claim and counter-claim of genocide.

"The question is whether the horrible crimes that have occurred imply genocide, and the court has adopted this conservative standpoint and raised the bar for genocide very high," said Croatia's outgoing president.

He participated in drafting the lawsuit against Serbia, filed as the country was under attack by NATO in 1999.

Josipovic believes that some of the most horrible crimes had not been taken into account in pronouncing the judgment, since the Court took the standpoint that the FRY was not bound by the UN Convention on Genocide for acts committed before April 27, 1992, when the FRY was created following the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

When it comes to Serbia's counter-claim, Josipovic told Zagreb-based Nova TV that the Court had pointed out rather clearly that Croatia "cannot be considered a country that had committed genocide, nor had Operation Storm been genocidal."

He believes that the repercussions of the ICJ ruling on Croatia's future "will not be negative" and that the affirmation of Croatia's position that it gained freedom through a "just war" is not about to change.

Regarding further relations with Serbia, Josipovic said that neither side could now give up on the efforts to find the missing persons and that it was a responsibility of all countries to prosecute war crimes.

Victims and aggressors

Croatia's president-elect, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, also commented to say she was dissatisfied with the judgment, but respected it. According to her,...