MP and Serb National Council (SNV) president Milorad Pupovac told the Tanjug news agency that it was unreasonable for Croatia to refuse to cooperate in the investigation of war crimes committed  in the 1995 Operation Storm, for which an indictment was issued against four Croatian Air Force pilots.

Pupovac said that the crime in question should be viewed from the perspective of the victims.

The fact is that people were killed, and shelled and that they were victims of an attack for which there was no reason. Those were civilian victims who were fleeing from the dangers of war and it is unreasonable to approach this matter in a different way and refuse to cooperate in the investigation of the circumstances under which it occurred, Pupovac told Tanjug.

Serbia’s War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office issued an indictment against Croatian wartime pilots Vladimir Mikac (67), Zdenko Radulj (69), Zeljko Jelenic (69) and Danijel Borovic (64) for issuing orders to shell a refugee column at Petrovac road in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina on 7 and 8 August 1995. Thirteen people were killed in the attacks, including six children, while 24 were wounded.

Asked whether he thought there was any change Croatia could accept the indictment, Pupovac recalled that Croatia had refused a request by Bosnia and Herzegovina, which submitted a request for cooperation in that case first, and added there had been no official communication between Serbia’s and Croatia’s prosecutors and the judiciary of the two governments.

That has ended. Cooperation has not existed for over a decade. There is no basis for avoiding cooperation, first of all, it is an international obligation since Croatia and Serbia are signatories to cooperation with the UN, through the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Pupovac told Tanjug.

Croatia does not accept Serbia’s “universal jurisdiction” over war crimes, this case included. Croatian authorities underscore the indictments are politically motivated, contrary to international law, and that everything will be done to legally protect the four pilots and prevent the issuance of an international arrest warrant.