15 Years
since the First Gross Crime against Humanity in the territory of
Ex-Yugoslavia
Press release
Belgrade, November 17, 2006
The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia
reminds the public that around this time, precisely November 20, fifteen
years ago the former Yugoslav People's Army - with ample assistance of
territorials recruited solely by ethnic criteria and criminal
para-military troops - "liberated" Vukovar through systematic
destruction, plunder, ethnic cleansing, killing of civilians hidden in
basements of their houses and setting up infamous concentration camps
such as Ovcara.
Regretfully, not even 15 years after the first gross
crime against humanity in the territory of ex-Yugoslavia - the
executioners of which in the command chain presently stand trial before
the tribunal in The Hague - there are no hints that Serbia's
institutions will be seriously reconsidering, in foreseeable future, the
ideological background and the sum and substance of the aggression
against the territory that should have been by definition defended from
outside enemy only. Unless she clearly distances herself from the
project giving birth to Vukovar crime and other serious crimes committed
in 1991-99 wars, as well as from the ideas its originators and
protagonists still spread, Serbia will be running into stumbling blocks
in the way of full normalization of relations with Croatia and other
countries in the region. Unfortunately, the same stumbling block will be
standing in the way of her full democratization and transformation into
a modern, European state.
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