BELGRADE, SARAJEVO, ZAGREB, THE HAGUE -- The operation Storm videos of alleged war crimes shown by B92 and RTS have cause a stir in the regional media and public.
BELGRADE, SARAJEVO, ZAGREB, THE HAGUE -- The operation Storm videos of alleged war crimes shown by B92 and RTS have cause a stir in the regional media and public.
Source: B92
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The Serbian Government has stated that “Atif Dudaković and other war criminals who committed crimes against Serbs must be arrested immediately” and must stand trial in a court of law for their actions.
Croatian political analyst Pavle Kalinić appeared on HTV and stated that “the release of the amateur-shot video by Belgrade television station B92, in which alleged war crimes were committed on the territory of Dvora na Uni during Operation Storm, is no coincidence, it is an effort to sling mud on that military-political action.”
Asked about the role of Dudaković in the action, who the Serbian media has accused of committing war crimes during Operation Storm, Kalinić said that the Croatian judicial system does not have jurisdiction over what Dudaković did on the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Croatian Internal Affairs Ministry confirmed that it has begun an investigation into events occurring in the region of Dvora na Uni during Operation Storm.
Military Commander of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Army’s Fifth Corps Atif Dudaković said yesterday that the footage shown on RTS where his troops torched a Serbian village in the Petrovac region is “a montage and represents the lies of Serbian television.”
He told Radio-Television Republic of Srpska that the footage is an answer to the genocide charges pressed by Bosnia-Herzegovina against Serbia, an act of manipulation and a media war with the goal of implementing the ideas of Serbian politics. The Bosnia-Herzegovina Prosecutor’s Office has begun an investigation as well into the war crimes allegedly committed against Serbs which were shown on B92.
The investigation in Bosnia-Herzegovina resulting from the footage shown on B92 did not yield many reactions in public of political circles. However, media reports over the last several days have taken the entire situation deeper into political waters, which could have eventual negative effects on the investigation itself.
The negative image of the Republic of Srpska’s officials concerning Hague cooperation, along with several Serbian officials, most notably Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica, adds to the seriousness of the investigation, and has initiated the Bosnia-Herzegovina press to put an added emphasis on the political circumstances.
The Croatian media is asking the question of how these videos, which are now seeing the light of day for the first time and are not of the greatest quality, managed to appear exactly during the period of time in which Operation Storm is being commemorated. Croatian analysts see this as an obvious effort to show their freedom-fighting operation in a negative light to the international community.
Similar questions are being asked by the Bosnia-Herzegovina media. Many political analysts believe that this video was planned to be released right before the moment when the International War Crimes Tribunal is preparing to reach a verdict on the charges of aggression and genocide which Bosnia-Herzegovina pressed against Serbia and Montenegro. Many in Bosnia-Herzegovina see this as an effort to even out the war crimes committed by all sides during the wars within the former Yugoslavia in the eyes of the international community.
Sarajevo media groups say that the investigations will be compromised by the fact that Republic of Srpska officials and Koštunica are pulling most for a quick confirmation of the war crimes committed during Operation Storm.
They fact that the campaign is being led by people such as Čavić, Dodik and Koštunica who are already labelled as “protectors and sympathisers of war crimes suspects” may compromise the investigation, according to Bosnian media outlets.
Spokesperson of the Serbian War Crimes Prosecution Bruno Vekarić has called on all people who have access to related video footage and evidence to contact the prosecutor’s office in order to help process the cases against war crimes suspects.
Vekarić told Beta that the prosecution has asked RTS for the footage it has of Atif Dudaković, in which he is seen ordering his troops to burn and destroy Serbian villages.
“I am calling on the people to give their videos to the Prosecutor’s Office, not to have to find out what happened via television. If this footage was given to the Hague Tribunal four years ago, it would be a key part of the indictment, and now we can only call on our regional colleagues to initiate an investigation.” Vekarić said.
Unfortunately, genocide and ethnic crime denial is still rampant in this part of the world. From Turkey denying the Armenian Genocide, to Albanians denying hate crimes against Serbs, it seems that Croats, Bosnians, and Serbs, are also living in blissful denial that their own side did any wrongdoing during the wars in the 1990s. The fact that Croatia refuses to even capture remaining Ustasha commanders hiding in Europe and South America also speaks to the historical blindsidedness of that country. While it is always painful to associate one's own country with atrocities, both past and presesnt, trying to depict your own side as virtuous and innocent while everyone else was organizing to destroy you is the height of ignorant naivety. Crimes were committed on all sides, and irrespective of the number of dead, or the severeity of the aggession, a crime is still a crime.
(Mike, 9 August 2006 18:10)
When war crimes are committed against us and there is proof they (Croatia & Bosnia) can't handle it, when us Serbs for over 10 years get demonized by the west we deal with it. Just shows how low the politicians of these two countries really are.
(Marko Dukic, 10 August 2006 01:21)
I had a chance to see the video and captures the true hatred and brutality of the civil war in the fomer Yugoslavia.
If this was the only war crime perpetrated against the former Yugoslav people.
Medak Pocket: Canadian peacekeepers witnessed the horrific massacre of Serbian civilians while being restrained by the International Community to intervene. But the Canadian General launched his badly outnumbered Canadian troops against the Croatian miliary who eventually pulled back because a video was being shot of the massacre of civilians, afraid of international condemnation.
The republic of Srpska or the current Serbian government representing the Serbian people will not recieve true justice becuase the US & German governments provided logistical and military support to the Muslim & Croatian army which was full of paid mercenaries trained to kill.
We are also reminded of the war crimes of the Slovenian government who killed young innocent JNA officers and soldiers who were ordered not to engage the Slovenian resistance. The JNA Officers were of all ethnic backgrounds.
Finally, the innocent JNA officers who released Alija Isetbegovic and then brutally shot by the Bosian Muslim Militia.
Konstantin Gregovic
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada
(Konstantin Gregovic, 10 August 2006 18:33)