INTERVIEW-Croatia must be tougher on war crimes - Amnesty
By David Brunnstrom
BRUSSELS, April 15 (Reuters) - The European Union should demand that candidate country Croatia do more to prosecute war crimes against ethnic Serbs before it can join the bloc, the head of rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
Irene Khan also said the 27-nation EU should stick to its insistence that Serbia fully cooperate with the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia before it signs an agreement that is a first step towards EU membership.
Khan told Reuters after a visit to Croatia that while some progress had been made in prosecuting war crimes, a clear bias remained against Serb victims and in favour of Croatian accused.
"That bias has to be removed," she said. "The European Union has an obligation to ensure that Croatia tackles its justice system and ensures impartial justice to all victims of war crimes there prior to acceding to the European Union."
"There is a risk of course that in the political negotiations, political concerns will supersede issues of justice for past war crimes," she said after presenting a film about war crimes in Croatia at the European Parliament.
"But from Amnesty International's perspective and our experience around the world we know that when issues like this are pushed under the carpet they create problems in the future."
Croatian nationalists ruling until 2000 did little to investigate war crimes against Serbs. Since reformists came to power in 2000 and there have been a number of Croats sentenced, including some high profile cases.
Leading Croatian general Ante Gotovina went on trial in the Hague last month charged with orchestrating a campaign of murder and plunder to drive up to 200,000 Serbs from the Krajina region in Croatia during the Yugoslav civil war.
The EU sees membership for all Western Balkans nations as vital to ensuring stability on its southeastern borders.
Member states have been debating whether to sign a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Serbia ahead of elections there in May, despite Serbia's failure to hand over war crimes suspects Radovan Karadzic and military commander Ratko Mladic to the U.N. tribunal in the Hague.
Khan said the EU should stick to its condition that Serbia cooperate fully with the tribunal: "Amnesty certainly believes it is something on which the European Union should insist."
The European Union has called on Zagreb to do more on minority rights as part of its EU accession process.
It had said Croatia should be able to conclude talks in 2009 to become the next country to join the bloc -- provided it meets all EU benchmarks -- including judicial reform -- by June.
Just over a quarter of Krajina's original ethnic Serb population have returned and most who have not blame poverty, a lack of jobs and discrimination. (Editing by Stephen Weeks)
BRUSSELS, April 15 (Reuters) - The European Union should demand that candidate country Croatia do more to prosecute war crimes against ethnic Serbs before it can join the bloc, the head of rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
Irene Khan also said the 27-nation EU should stick to its insistence that Serbia fully cooperate with the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia before it signs an agreement that is a first step towards EU membership.
Khan told Reuters after a visit to Croatia that while some progress had been made in prosecuting war crimes, a clear bias remained against Serb victims and in favour of Croatian accused.
"That bias has to be removed," she said. "The European Union has an obligation to ensure that Croatia tackles its justice system and ensures impartial justice to all victims of war crimes there prior to acceding to the European Union."
"There is a risk of course that in the political negotiations, political concerns will supersede issues of justice for past war crimes," she said after presenting a film about war crimes in Croatia at the European Parliament.
"But from Amnesty International's perspective and our experience around the world we know that when issues like this are pushed under the carpet they create problems in the future."
Croatian nationalists ruling until 2000 did little to investigate war crimes against Serbs. Since reformists came to power in 2000 and there have been a number of Croats sentenced, including some high profile cases.
Leading Croatian general Ante Gotovina went on trial in the Hague last month charged with orchestrating a campaign of murder and plunder to drive up to 200,000 Serbs from the Krajina region in Croatia during the Yugoslav civil war.
The EU sees membership for all Western Balkans nations as vital to ensuring stability on its southeastern borders.
Member states have been debating whether to sign a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Serbia ahead of elections there in May, despite Serbia's failure to hand over war crimes suspects Radovan Karadzic and military commander Ratko Mladic to the U.N. tribunal in the Hague.
Khan said the EU should stick to its condition that Serbia cooperate fully with the tribunal: "Amnesty certainly believes it is something on which the European Union should insist."
The European Union has called on Zagreb to do more on minority rights as part of its EU accession process.
It had said Croatia should be able to conclude talks in 2009 to become the next country to join the bloc -- provided it meets all EU benchmarks -- including judicial reform -- by June.
Just over a quarter of Krajina's original ethnic Serb population have returned and most who have not blame poverty, a lack of jobs and discrimination. (Editing by Stephen Weeks)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Bosnia mourns Srebrenica victims.
