GAGIĆ: SELECTIVE JUSTICE IS BEING APPLIED AGAINST SERBS

BANJA LUKA, MAY 15 /SRNA/ – The Chairman of the Presidency of the Republika Srpska War Veterans Organisation /BORS/ Milovan Gagić believes that selective justice is being applied against Serbs, as evidenced by the fact that no one has yet been adequately punished for the crimes committed against JNA members in the Tuzla Convoy incident in 1992.

"The numerous facts demonstrate that selective justice is being applied against Serbs. Thus, the Hague Tribunal handed down only 64 years of prison sentences for crimes committed against Serbs throughout the former SFRY, while Serbs before the same court were sentenced to more than 1,000 years in prison and seven life sentences," Gagić told SRNA. According to him, no one was convicted before the Hague Tribunal for crimes committed against Serbs in Croatia, while only three persons were convicted for crimes against Serbs in BiH. "More than 70 percent of those indicted before the Court of BiH are Serbs, and of the total number of sentences imposed, only 13 percent relate to crimes against the Serb people," Gagić pointed out. He said that today the practice of prosecuting Serbs is even expanding to so-called verbal offenses, noting that Miodrag Malić and Vojin Pavlović were sentenced to multi-year prison terms because of their statements. "Recently, court proceedings on the same grounds were also initiated against the mayor of Vlasenica Municipality Miroslav Kraljević. Bosniaks and Croats are not even prosecuted for such acts, their actions are overlooked," Gagić emphasized. He recalled that BORS recently filed criminal charges against persons who glorified convicted war criminal Sakib Mahmuljin, and that the organisation is waiting to see whether the Court of BiH will act fairly in this case as well. "The Republika Srpska institutions must finally have a clear response to such conduct by the Prosecutor’s Office and the Court of BiH," Gagić stressed. On May 15, 1992, Muslim paramilitary forces attacked a JNA convoy in Tuzla which, based on a previously reached agreement, was supposed to leave the Tuzla barracks. In the attack, 51 persons were killed, three more later died from their wounds, while 78 persons were injured.