Croatia calls for Milosevic henchmen to face trial
HELSINKI, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Croatia called on Wednesday for other associates of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic to follow their former leader and face trial at the war crimes tribunal in the Hague.
“It is not enough to get Milosevic in the Hague. He must be accompanied by his close associates. Unfortunately many of them are walking free,” Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula told a news conference in Helsinki.
“This is not a vendetta. We are not in the vendetta business. It is very important to extend international justice and the international tribunal in the Hague is a very important instrument that can bring more justice,” he added.
Milosevic is accused of crimes against humanity in Croatia in 1991-92 and Kosovo in 1999, as well as genocide in the 1992-95 Bosnian War.
Lawyers must show the U.N.-mandated court Milosevic himself either ordered such atrocities, knew of them yet failed to halt them or, at least, knew about them after they were committed but failed to punish the perpetrators.
Milosevic has argued there is no evidence linking him to the crimes.
Other war crimes suspects — including fugitive indictee Radovan Karadzic and his military chief Ratko Mladic — remain at large in the former Yugoslavia and local authorities have come under international pressure to hunt them down.
Picula said Croatia had cooperated with the Hague in trying to track down war criminals.
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