Obradovic: Croatia's evidence is thin

BELGRADE, THE HAGUE – Sasa Obradovic, Serbia’s chief representative before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Croatia-Serbia genocide case, said after Croatia had given its oral argument that evidence presented by the country is rather “thin and weak.”

Obradovic told Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) on Friday that grave accusations were made by Croatia over the week but that the public had the opportunity to see that the evidence the country based its case on is rather thin.

Serbia will begin laying its case on Monday and for the rest of the week present its counter-claim arguing that the Croatian authorities committed genocide against Serbs from the Knin Krajina during Operation Storm in August 1995.

Obradovic said that “the public will be rather surprised” when the Serbian side starts talking about the events about which “nothing could be heard last week.”

“Our team will not be denying next week that serious crimes were committed. What we will be denying is the context of the events in which they were committed and the evidence that we believe is weak - I speak not, of course, about the evidence confirmed by The Hague Tribunal, but rather about other evidence, which Croatia offers. Of course, we will be denying that the crimes were committed with genocidal intent,” Obradovic said.

Serbia’s representative expressed the hope that the Croatian side will show the same approach in its observations on Serbia's counter-claim, “instead of claiming that in Operation Storm the Serbs were being killed by Serbs, as it happened in the previous, written phase of the proceedings.”

AP Photo/Jiri Buller