Grabar-Kitarovic pens 'Mothers of Srebrenica': I am addressing you today as statesmen and as a mother, guts

President of the Croatian Minister Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic on Friday sent a letter to the mothers of Srebrenica to mark the first instance verdict of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, former President of the Republic of Serbian Radovan Karadzic.

It says that the judgment failed to meet "all your and our expectations", but the "historic verdict of genocide, crimes, deportation, rape and ethnic cleansing.""Dear mothers of Srebrenica, I turn to you today as statesmen and as a mother, from the bottom of my heart. Today first instance verdict of Radovan Karadzic at the Hague Tribunal has not fulfilled all your and our expectations and will certainly not diminish the grief and pain of losing your loved ones" said in a letter to Croatian President to the judgment that Karadzic on Thursday found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica and other war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

However, said Grabar-Kitarovic, this is a historic verdict of genocide, crimes, deportation, rape and ethnic cleansing.

'Clear Message'

"Also, this is a clear message to all those who still engage in criminal ventures against humanity and international terrorism based on racial and religious intolerance, he will not go unpunished," says the president of the Croatian, as quoted by Hina."Dear mother, crimes of genocide in Srebrenica will remain a permanent stain of European and world politics. I believe that all the other commanders and perpetrators ultimately be justly. The entire Croatian people in mind I am with you," the letter to the President of the Republic of mothers of Srebrenica .

The Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague found that Karadzic was guilty of genocide in Srebrenica and several years of terrorizing Sarajevo and the taking of UN hostages, but found that there was no genocide in seven municipalities - Bratunac, Foca, Kljuc, Prijedor, Sanski Most, Vlasenica and Zvornik and was acquitted for that part of the indictment.

The court found that there was a plan participant joint criminal enterprise for the elimination of the population of Srebrenica through the forcible transfer of women, children and elderly men, and the physical elimination of men which reached the level of genocide.The Chamber found that on 12 and 13 July 1995, after having created an atmosphere of coercion in the Srebrenica enclave, the residents are forced to leave. Thirty thousand women and children were transported from Potocari to the territory under Muslim control.

Thousands organized killed

Thousands of men, who are separated from them, after that they were killed in a systematic way and organized, established the council.The Council is convinced that there was a plan that all able-bodied men and boys killed and that he could not be carried out without the knowledge and intent of the military leadership of the Bosnian Serbs to commit genocide.

The indictment against Karadzic was issued on 25 July 1995, was arrested on July 21, 2008, in Serbia, where he hid for years and worked under a false identity.Association "Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves" is a Bosnian non-governmental organization that brings together survivors and family members of killed and missing in July 1995 during the fall of the "safe area" of Srebrenica and Zepa.

The association was founded in 1996 with the aim of discovering the "truth, justice and accountability for victims of the Srebrenica genocide."

• 25 Mar, 2016
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