Croatian Bridge party demands strong diplomatic response to Mladic state funeral in Serbia

Bridge said the planned state funeral with full honours was not merely another provocation from Belgrade, but a political message about modern Serbia's attitude towards the wartime policies of the 1990s, their military figures and their victims.

The party stressed that Croatia had particular reason to react because Mladic, who was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, built his military career in Croatia as a Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) commander before becoming one of the main military figures in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"Mladic left this world without being held accountable for Skabrnja, one of the places that remain a lasting symbol of the suffering of Croatian civilians and the brutality of the Greater Serbian aggression," Bridge said.

The party argued that a state funeral for Mladic could not be treated as a private family matter or justified by protocol or his rank as a general. Once a state puts its army, institutions and highest honours at the service of a convicted war criminal's funeral, it sends a message about its attitude towards his wartime legacy, the party said.

The party called on the government to deliver the "strongest possible diplomatic response", rather than, as it put it, its customary cautious approach towards Belgrade and carefully worded statements designed to avoid a sharper message.

Bridge also said Croatia should address why Mladic had never been held accountable for crimes committed during the war in Croatia, including those in Skabrnja.

"How did we allow a man who commanded JNA forces in Croatia, whose name is inseparably linked to a war that left Croatian towns destroyed, civilians dead and people expelled, to die without ever being held accountable for Skabrnja?" the party asked, adding that Croatia must not allow the passage of time to diminish responsibility for war crimes or its duty towards victims.