After the preliminary hearing against Croatian Air Force pilots charged with an alleged missile attack on a Serb refugee convoy during Operation Storm was postponed in Belgrade on Friday, Minister of Justice and Administration Ivan Malenica said the trial had been a political farce from the start.

“Today’s preliminary hearing and everything that preceded it shows that the trial of Croatian pilots is a political farce. It is paradoxical that a court-appointed defence lawyer says that the war crime was committed. Then what’s the point of the trial?” Malenica asked and added that Serbia was abusing the institute of universal jurisdiction, which is being ‘twisted and misinterpreted.’

Malenica said that the case was a gross violation of the rights of Croatian pilots and recalled that the Croatian ministry had tried to talk with the Serbian ministry in order to abolish universal jurisdiction.

‘A means of political reckoning’

“After several meetings, the Serbian ministry did not want to cooperate on this issue. In this specific case, Serbia has misused (universal jurisdiction) and is using it as a means of political reckoning,” said Malenica.

He noted that every state has universal jurisdiction, “but certainly does not use it the way they are.” He added that Serbia is trying to show that there is no rule of law in Croatia even though it had to fulfil all the conditions from the policy chapter No. 23 for membership in the European Union.

“A month ago, when the summons was received, we clearly said that this was a violation of international regulations, and of Croatian laws. The Convention on Universal Legal Assistance has been violated here,” he added.

He reiterated that the ministry did not receive the summons for the hearing or the indictment, which also showed that the rights of the Croatian pilots had been violated.

“This procedure and this event, which happened on Petrovacka Cesta, was investigated by the Hague tribunal. If there had been any elements of a war crime, the Hague tribunal would have probably prosecuted it. That didn’t happen. Likewise, this event took place on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. If something had happened, the judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina would have initiated something,” he said.

When asked if he thinks that the hearing was deliberately postponed to the date two days before the commemoration of the fall of the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar, Malenica replied that “nothing is accidental” and added that everything points to the fact that the verdict had already been determined.

Minister in daily contact with pilots

Malenica said that he was in daily contact with the pilots and that he had advised them that their case was a violation of international law and that Croatia would protect the rule of law and Croatian defenders in all future procedures.

“I would not specify those activities now, but they will be aimed at protecting the Croatian pilots and the 1991-95 War,” Malenica said.

Asked about the future of Croatia’s relationship with Serbia, Malenica said the case did not contribute to a relationship of trust.

A preliminary hearing in proceedings against four retired Croatian Air Force pilots accused by Serbian prosecutors of firing rockets at a retreating refugee convoy during the military and police operation “Storm” in August 1995 began in Belgrade on Friday, but the judge adjourned it for procedural reasons and rescheduled it for 16 November.

A court-appointed defence lawyer for one of the accused, Aleksandar Olenik, said that there are no conditions for holding a hearing. He specified that it has not been resolved whether the accused pilots were duly summoned to court and whether a decision on a trial in absentia has been made and if not, when it will be made.

The Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office has accused retired Croatian Air Force pilots  Vladimir Mikac (67), Zdenko Radulj (69), Zeljko Jelenic (69), and Danijel Borovic (64) of ordering the rocketing of a refugee convoy near Bosanski Petrovac and in Svodna near Novi Grad (formerly Bosanski Novi) on 7 and 8 August 1995.

According to the indictment, their actions “resulted in the death and wounding of a number of ethnic Serb civilians,” including four children.