Croatian General Mladen Markač said today that it might not be the right time to publish the register of Croatian war veterans from the last war because of possible bad reactions from Serbia.
Markač assessed that it was not time to publish those registers, given the negative reactions in Serbia due to the Hague Tribunal's acquittal of him and General Anta Gotovina for war crimes during and after the "Storm" operation in 1995, Croatian media reported.
"There could be new individual indictments for war crimes, we don't know how many of those indictments there may be, and there is a possibility of manipulating that register," Markač told reporters in Osijek, where he was presented with an honorary citizen charter.
He added that there is "a different truth about the Homeland War" in Serbia.
The intention of the ruling coalition, led by the Social Democratic Party, to publish the register of Croatian veterans, with more than 500.000 names, caused sharp reactions from the opposition.
The intention of the ruling coalition, headed by the Social Democratic Party, to publish the register of Croatian veterans, with more than 500.000 names, caused sharp reactions from the opposition.
Thus, during the parliamentary debate on amendments to the Act on the Rights of Croatian Veterans, the deputies of the Croatian Democratic Union announced that they would try to prevent the publication of the register with constitutional lawsuits, and warned that the authorities in Serbia could use its publication for new indictments against veterans.
The authorities intend to publish the registers, because the number of war veterans on them does not correspond to the actual situation.
Honorary citizens
By the way, Markač received the charter of honorary citizen at the ceremonial session of the City Council of Osijek, which was also received by General Ante Gotovina.
According to Markač, Gotovina fell ill and will soon come to Osijek to receive the charter.
Gotovina has already been declared an honorary citizen of Split and Zadar, and such an initiative has been launched in several other cities.
On November 16, the Appellate Panel of the Hague Tribunal acquitted Gotovina and Markač of the persecution of the Serbian population from Kninska Krajina in 1995, overturning the first-instance verdict by which Gotovina was sentenced to 24 years in prison and Markač to 18 years in prison.
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