Gotovina Indictment is Flawed

The Gotovina Indictment is a clear-cut example of inequality before the law and it does not take a rocket scientist to see its flaws.

Article 51 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights refers to the inherent individual or collective right of self defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations.

Croatia, a United Nations recognized country, was attacked by Serbian-led terrorists for several years, in spite of the presence of UNPROFOR there. Indeed, it was the widely televised Serbian intransigence and Serbian aggression against Croatia which had prompted the United Nations to create the first resolutions about the former Yugoslavia.

First, in order to carry out those resolutions prompted by aggression against Croatia, the United Nations established its base in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, thereby delaying peacekeeping efforts in Croatia .

Secondly, the Hague Indictments in reference to Bosnia & Herzegovina detail the international recognition of B & H in the Statement of Facts which is deliberately listed before the Charges against Serbian war criminals such as Mladic.

In contrast, it appears that in order to isolate the indictment charges against Croatian generals from any historically related context, both the United Nations Peacekeeping Missions in Croatia, and the ad hoc Hague court Indictments which refer to events in Croatia deliberately do NOT mention the international recognition of Croatia. In the Indictment against Gotovina for example the Statement of Facts inappropriately follows the list of charges instead of preceding them. In addition, after reading the Indictment against Croatian generals it appears as if the unlawfully Serbian-occupied territory within Croatia receives more legitimacy than the UN-member Republic of Croatia.

Finally, in the theme of the initial UN presence being first in Bosnia & Herzegovina instead of Croatia, the Hague indictments also first related to Serbian genocide in Bosnia & Herzegovina . Only later did Serbian-led terrorism in Croatia begin to be investigated by the Hague, although this did not receive as much media cover as other indictments.

Thus, the process of law ignored the first victims of injustice until after many had died, or permanently left their homeland as refugees. The Hague indictment charges which refer to Croatia mention the flight of 150,000-200,000 Serbs from Croatia but nowhere is the flight of 400,000 Croats from Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina mentioned.

In consideration of the above-mentioned inconsistencies in the indictments, in the case of Croatia, it appears as if Croatia is somehow an unwarranted aggressor against Serbian-occupied territory within Croatia--even though the opposite is a matter of public record. In contrast, in the case of Bosnia & Herzegovina the indictments clearly show the Serbian generals to be the aggressors by the content and placement of the Charges in relation to the Statement of Facts therein.


Jean Lunt Marinovic
January 2006
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