To all, At the time I wrote this letter (which was published in The Washington Post), I was still someone hesitant to give my correct name so I used my mother's maiden name. As you can see, I have thrown care to the wind and now use my real name, which won me a death threat several years ago from the KLA because of my writings on Kosovo. Now my question is, if I knew what happened regarding the "patients" at the Vukovar hospital, surely the Serbian courts did also. Again, do they actually believe that by turning in their own alleged war criminals, they will receive a pat on the back by the International community? Croatians are rallying behind their alleged war criminal, Gotovina. Personally, I don't trust Croatian President Stjepan Mesic. I think he has something up his sleeve. Is it possible that a deal has already been struck so that Gotovina gets a very light sentence or exonerated, and still make Mesic look good? We shall see. To read "Serbian Court Finds 14 Guilty in '91 Massacre of Croatians," please scroll down to the bottom. Stella ----------------------------------------------------------------------- THE WASHINGTON POST
Letters to the Editor Croatia: Bringing Justice to War Criminals (cont'd) 25 November 1996 I'm writing in response to Croatian Ambassador Miomir Zuzul's statement regarding the exhumation of the mass grave of approximately 200 "hospital patients" summarily executed in Vukovar by the Yugoslav Army and Serb paramilitary forces in 1991 [letters, Nov. 11]. For "the rest of the story," we need to take a closer look at what transpired prior to the indicent--the story that didn't make the headlines. In late 1991 the Yugoslav Army captured the city of Vukovar from Croatian forces who had been systematically massacring (ethnically cleansing) the ethnic Serb minority in the city. A Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy article in London in December 1992 said: "At least 1,000 Serbs, mostly women, old people and children, were shot, knifed, axed or bludgeoned to death systematically, one-by-one, in two main centres....One visiting Croat female journalist, during the Vukovar fighting, unfamiliar with firearms, asked one of the young gunmen to cock a pistol for her so that she could feel what it was like to kill a Serb. She shot, indiscriminately, an old Serb woman who was standing under Croat guard." In November 1991, the Toronto Star said that "a photographer reported seeing black plastic bags containing pieces of the bodies of children about 5,6,or 7 years old." When Serb forces broke through and discovered the grisly scenes, Croatian soldiers, in an attempt to escape justice, fled to escape justice, fled to the protection of the Vukovar hospital and became "patients." Perhaps one can look at the events that took place at the Vukovar hospital as an act of revenge, but if your wife, children, parents and grandparents had just been slaughtered by your enemy who was trying to escape justice by taking refuge in a hospital, be honest--what might you have done? MARINA SAKEL (aka Stella L. Jatras) Sterling -------------------------------- THE WASHINGTON POST Letters to the Editor Croatia: Bringing Justice to War Criminals 11 November 1996 I'm writing to correct several statements made in the Oct. 25 news stories by Michael Dobbs and John Pomfret ["Dispute Holds UP Warms Shipments to Bosnia", "Bosnian Serbs BEgin to Work with Tribunal"]. In his article, Mr. Dobbs wrote that Ivica Rajic, who is wanted by the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal, was "reportedly seen in a state-owned hotel" in Split. This report, apparently drawn from a report appearing in the Croatian weekly Globus, is incorrect. On Oct 25, the Croatian newspaper Slobodna Damacija reported that the individual photographed outside the hotel, thought to be Rajic, was, in fact, a hotel employee. Contrary to the media assertions, the current movement or residence of Rajic remain unknown to Croatian authorities. Further, John Pomfred inaccurately asserted that "numberous" indicted Bosnian-Croat officials, in this case Dario Kordic, are in Croatia and regularly meet with President Tudjman. Mr. Pomfret states that Dario Kordic "lives in a Zagreb apartment complex owned by the Croatian Army." In fact, the apartment referred to is owned by Kordic's parents and is a family residence. I emphasize that President Tudjman has not met with Mr. Kordic under any circumstances since his indictment. In compliance with its obligations under the Dayton Accords, Croatia has amended its constitution by enacting a sepcial law to formalize cooperation with the tribunal. This new constitutional act created procedures whereby suspects wanted by the tribunal may be extradited to the Hague and provisions that allow the tribunal to operate on Croatian territory. The tribunal has, in fact, established an office in Zagreb so that our activities can be coordinated effectively. Most recently, Croatian and tribunal officials have cooperated in the exhumatiion of the mass grave of approximately 200 hospital patients summarily executed by the Yugoslav Army and Serb paramilitary forces when the Croatian city of Vukovar was over run in 1991. Croatia will continue to cooperate closely with the Hague tribunal and remains dedicated to a successful international effort to bring each and every individual guilty of war crimes to justice. MIOMIAR ZUZUL Ambassador Embassy of Croatia Washington ----- Original Message ----- Subject: Serbian Court Finds 14 Guilty in '91 Massacre of Croatians - NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/13/international/europe/13serbia.html Article 6 of 20 in International International HomeAfricaAmericasAsia PacificEuropeMiddle East Serbian Court Finds 14 Guilty in '91 Massacre of Croatians By REUTERS Published: December 13, 2005 BELGRADE, Serbia, Dec. 12 (Reuters) - Serbia on Monday convicted 14 Serbian former militia members of the massacre of nearly 200 people during the battle of Vukovar in November 1991. A special Belgrade court found the men guilty of carrying out the executions on a pig farm at the end of the three-month siege of Vukovar, Croatia's easternmost town, by local Serbian rebels backed by Yugoslav Army troops, tanks and artillery. They were found guilty "of murders, inflicting bodily harm and behaving in an inhumane way calculated to degrade human dignity," said the presiding judge, Vesko Krstajic, delivering the verdict. In the most significant war crimes judgment yet made by a Serbian court, the judge handed out prison sentences ranging from 5 to 20 years. Three commanders charged with orchestrating the massacre are on trial before the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Two other former militiamen were acquitted. The killings at the start of Croatia's war of independence were among many atrocities in a four-year period as Croats and Bosnians battled Serbs as Yugoslavia splintered. The massacre in Vukovar took two days. The victims were taken from the hospital where they had sought shelter from bombardment, and taken to pits where firing squads shot them seven or eight at a time. The pits were bulldozed over. Among the dead were patients, members of the hospital staff, journalists and Croatian fighters. Serbia's special war crimes court was set up with approval from the Hague tribunal in 2003 to show the country was able to face up to its bloody past. The chief prosecutor for the Hague tribunal, Carla Del Ponte, supplied documents for the case. Mrs. Del Ponte has praised Belgrade's special court but insisted that Serbia deliver to The Hague six remaining Serbian war crimes fugitives, including the Bosnian Serb wartime leader, Radovan Karadzic, and their wartime military leader, Ratko Mladic. Next Article in International (6 of 20) > Serbian News Network - SNN [email protected] http://www.antic.org/
