Former Bosnian Croat military leader Dario Kordic, sentenced for war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina before the UN court in The Hague, sparked strong reactions with the latest statement from a leaked video, showing no remorse for what he did during the war and not regretting spending 17 years in prison for that, according to his words.

Kordic served as commander-in-chief of the Bosnian Croat army HVO during the 1992-95 Bosnian War and in the late 1990s was who put on trial at the Hague war crimes tribunal (ICTY) for his role in the 1993 Ahmici massacre in central Bosnia, where HVO soldiers killed over a hundred Muslim Bosniak civilians during the Bosniak-Croat conflict which was part of the larger Bosnian War.

In 2001, Kordic was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and was later released in 2014 after serving two thirds of his sentence, having spent some 17 years in detention.

In a leaked video, whose timing is not confirmed but is assumed to have been recorded in August 2022, Kordic retells a story of when he was asked “if it was worth the prison and the war?”.

“I replied, I would do it all over again. I wouldn't change a second of it. Every second was worth it,” he said and his words were welcomed by a strong applause of the group.

Hague convict says ‘it was worth it’ and he would ‘do it all over again’

Elmedin Konakovic, Bosnia's Foreign Minister and leader of the People and Justice party, called it “one of the most horrific statements in the post-war period in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

“Being aware that such persons live around us, it is imperative to build a healthy and functional society, strong institutions that are able to react to all threats and challenges,” Konakovic wrote in a Facebook post.

“All those who approve of the war crimes and glorify them to their closest ones, primarily their children, they must explain how can they make heroes and role models of the war criminals who were shooting children, women, and old people and of those who ordered it,” Konakovic added.

Leader of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina Husein Kavazovic called Koric's statement “shameless” and that the war criminals who are welcomed in their communities as heroes actually feel no need to regret what they did or ask for forgiveness.

“I expected nothing else. May those innocently killed ones rest in peace, and may be damned the criminals, those who glorify them and those who accept that,” kavazovic said.

A day after the controversial video was published, the BOSS party leader Mirnes Ajanovic filed a criminal report against Kordic before the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for inciting ethnic, racial and religious hatred, divisions and intolerance among the constituent peoples and the Others.

A Croat association in Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier called on the Croat political leadership in the country to distance from Kordic and his statements.