Kozarev: Helez has no right to make senseless accusations, nor to interfere the in work of Serbian courts

Photo: Tanjug/MSP

After the decision of the Higher Court in Belgrade to acquit the former commander of the Drina Corps of the RS Army, Milenko Zivanovic, who stood accused of war crimes against civilians in Srebrenica, the defense minister in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Zukan Helez, reacted with a statement to Slobodna Bosna, which included insults and accusations against the authorities in Serbia.

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He particularly attacked Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, accusing him of "systematically hiding war criminals" and "freeing them in trials that are a farce."

"I am asking the (International Residual) Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, the successor to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, to undertake activities that will deprive Serbia of the right to conduct court proceedings regarding war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina," Helez said.

Secretary General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Dusan Kozarev responded to this with a post on X, reading:

"Mr. Helez has no moral credibility or authority to comment on the verdicts passed by courts in Serbia, and even less so to make senseless and unfounded accusations against President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic. I will remind you that President Vucic was ready, both as a man and as a politician, to pay respect to the victims of Srebrenica, and in that way to contribute to better relations between nations and states. But Mr. Helez's ideologically like-minded people pelted Vucic with rocks, with the intention of killing him.

Has Helez ever apologized to the president of Serbia or paid tribute to the victims of the crime in Kravice or any place where Muslim (Bosniak) forces massacred Serb civilians? A hierarchy cannot be created among the victims, because as long as this is the case, there will be neither trust nor true coexistence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Political extremism with any kind of national or ideological mark is an obstacle to establishing normal political relations in BiH and good neighborly relations in the Balkans, and the various Helez's must give way to a more advanced and far-sighted generation of politicians so that both BiH and our region have a chance to progress."

(Telegraf.rs)