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Croatian PM threatens to block Serbia-EU talks over war crime prosecution

Xinhua, February 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Croatian prime minister is threatening to block Serbia's EU negotiation talks if the Serbian law on war crimes is not withdrawn.

During Thursday's government session, Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic expressed his dissatisfaction with the Serbian law first passed in 2003, which gives Serbia the universal jurisdiction to try all alleged perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1990's war in former Yugoslavia.

The law in question enables Serbia to try all persons independent of their nationality, the nationality of the victim, or country in which the crime was committed, which could include the former Yugoslavian countries of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Milanovic stated that this law had to be withdrawn, as it is not the way in which the EU functions. He stressed that the proper procedure was through judicial cooperation and European arrest warrants. As an EU member state, Croatia is in a position to block EU pre-accession negotiations with Serbia.

Milanovic stressed that both countries have to prosecute crimes of their fellow citizens within their own judicial systems and extradite perpetrators from other countries. Endit