Bosnian Ambassador Claims Hague Tribunal Targeted Serbs, Ignored Crimes Against Them

BELGRADE, September 1. /TASS/. The Hague tribunal was essentially established to convict Serbs, while Western countries have applied double standards to the Serbian people for more than three decades, Aleksandar Vranjes, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s ambassador to Belgrade, has told TASS.

"The tribunal in The Hague was essentially created to convict Serbs. Crimes against the Serbian people committed by Bosniak (Slavic Muslim - TASS) and Croat forces are deliberately ignored. For more than three decades, we have seen Western representatives apply nothing but double standards to the Serbian people, both during the war and today," he said.

Vranjes noted that prison sentences handed down by the Hague tribunal to Serbian military officers and members of the Republika Srpska leadership totaled more than 1,000 years, including seven life sentences. By contrast, four individuals representing Bosniak and Croat forces received a combined 45 years in prison for war crimes against Serbs, he said.

The ambassador also pointed to the funeral of General Rasim Delic in Sarajevo, held with military honors. Delic had been convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for his role as commander of the Bosnian Army and died while serving his sentence. According to Vranjes, the ceremony drew no condemnation from Western countries.

Recalling the 1992-1995 conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vranjes described it as "literally a war of all against all," saying that approximately 97,000 people were killed across the conflict. In addition to fighting between Serb and Bosniak forces, Bosnian Croat forces also clashed with both sides. He further claimed that more than 4,000 people were killed during an internal conflict among Bosniaks who opposed the authorities led by Alija Izetbegovic in Sarajevo.

Former Bosnian Serb Army commander General Ratko Mladic died in UN custody in The Hague on August 27. The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, which succeeded the ICTY, had repeatedly rejected his defense team’s requests for early release on health grounds.

Milorad Dodik, leader of the ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats in Republika Srpska, described Mladic’s death in custody as a deliberate killing. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said the Hague court had deliberately prevented Mladic from dying in Serbia and stressed that Belgrade was prepared to organize a dignified funeral for the general if his family wished.