Top Bosnian Croat Politician Accused of Supporting War Criminal

Three war victims' associations on Monday urged Bosnia and Herzegovina's top international official, High Representative Christian Schmidt, to intervene to remove Lidija Bradara as president of the Bosniak and Croat-dominated Federation entity over her links to a war criminal who she called a "friend", N1 TV reported.

The Association of Genocide Victims and Witnesses, the Association of War Victims '92-95' and the 'April 16th' Ahmici association wrote to Schmidt saying that Bradara, a member of Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ party, "has shown the intention and audacity to continuously affirm and glorify Dario Kordic, a war criminal".

They made the appeal to Schmidt, who is responsible for overseeing the continuing implementation of the peace deal that ended the Bosnian war, after Bradara was asked on N1 television on Friday about a recent statement in which she said that she "will not give up on a friend", referring to Kordic.

When the host asked her if by supporting Kordic, she also supports war crimes, Bradara replied that "a convicted person who has served their sentence presumably stops being a war crimes convict".

The war victims' associations claimed that Bradara's support for Kordic is long-standing, and argued that her latest statement is a violation of the Dayton peace accords, which ended the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"Her latest statement comes ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Ahmici massacre, for which Dario Kordic was convicted," they said in their letter.

On April 16, 1993, a total of 116 civilians including elderly people and children were killed by Croatian Defence Council fighters.

Kordic, who was a Croatian Defence Council commander, was convicted by the International Criminal...