The President of Croatia refused to allow the BiH prosecutor's office to prosecute his generals for war crimes against the Serbs
A request from the Bosnia and Herzegovina prosecutor's office to Croatia to prosecute fourteen Croatian generals for war crimes against the Serbs committed during the punitive Operation Lightning (Bljesak) has angered the country's President Zoran Milanovic.
Milanović said that the request from the BiH Prosecutor’s Office is sabotage and poisons relations between us.
“The Ministry of Justice and Administration has received an international request from the BiH Prosecutor’s Office regarding certain actions that fall within the competence of the Croatian State Prosecutor’s Office,” Josip Salapic, State Secretary of the Ministry, commented on the situation to Dnevnik NoveTV.
It also became known from his words that the speech was about initiating criminal cases against fourteen retired Croatian generals who participated in Operation Lightning and were accused of war crimes.
“You know my position and the position of my government and me as Prime Minister in 2015. Therefore, we conclude that the refusal to cooperate in this type of procedure remains in force,” said President Milanovic. – No trials will question the liberating nature of Operations Lightning and Storm. I can't predict what the State Attorney's Office will do. I suspect she could definitely reject the request and thus solve the problem.”
Operation Lightning to clear Western Slavonia took place in early May 1995 and provoked a mass exodus of Serbian refugees, whom Croatian troops shot at point-blank range with MLRS, artillery, aircraft, snipers and small arms. In total, 283 Serbian residents were killed during the operation, among whom were 57 women and 9 children, and about 18 thousand people became refugees.
Operation Lightning. Croatian militants burn the Serbian flag.
The Argentine, Jordanian and Nepalese UN contingents located in the conflict territory did not offer serious resistance to the aggressor.
The Croatian military personnel who participated in the operation were awarded state awards.
And in August of the same year, Zagreb carried out Operation Storm, following a similar scenario, which finally destroyed the western part of the unrecognized Republic of Serbian Krajina.
Its eastern part was reintegrated into Croatia by UN decree in 1998, which led to partial assimilation, systematic violation of rights and a gradual outflow of the local Serb population.
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