1. Human Justice Constantly on Trial

In the history of Western civilization, as well as the advancement of culture and civilization strongly inspired by Judeo-Christian tradition, courts have been established in order to preserve justice in society instead of adhering to the principle that might makes right. Unfortunately, human law, due to human weakness and sinfulness, does not always go hand in hand with justice and righteousness. Nevertheless, despite frequent lapses and human rights abuses, Western civilization has never rationally abandoned the concept of ideal justice entirely, although it came dangerously close in the totalitarian systems of the 20th century, and in the racist and colonial laws according to which it was considered self-evident that there are more worthy and less worthy people and nations. As Christians, we must always pray for human legislators to abide by divine law, according to which every person is God’s creature and in God’s image, and others are our brothers and sisters, instead of the human traditions according to which there have always been some people and nations considered to be more worthy than others. Through a difficult history, Croats were often extradited to human courts that gave them heavy sentences based upon injustice and deceit, from the bloodstained Križevci Parliament, the shameful convictions of Zrinski and Frankopan, the show trial of the Blessed Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, and the countless murdered and mistreated persons whose only recourse is trust in the verdict of the Eternal Judge. During the Homeland War, in which it was a genuine miracle that Croatian soldiers successfully defended their homeland, Croats believed that the time had finally come when even they would be judged according to the principle of fairness. They believed in the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague (ICTY). Moreover, they had even initiated that court.

2. The Hague Tribunal

Nearly twenty years after the founding of this tribunal, we had little hope in its fairness. We tried to arouse it, calling attention to its unjust premises, problems and ambiguities, but also tried to give it strength through communal and personal prayers, fasting, and adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. And we succeeded. The verdict on Operation Storm, issued on November 16, 2012, in the case against Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač by the Appeals Chamber saved the Tribunal’s face and secured for it a place in history in which this Tribunal will be ranked among courts which, despite numerous politically motivated indictments, mostly written during the mandate of Ms. Del Ponte, the judges were able to render a just and legally based verdict in compliance with international law. This verdict, which clearly indicates who is the aggressor and who is the victim, and singles out the perpetrators of crimes against peace, made it possible for the Tribunal to enter history as a court that did not completely miss its mandate. This verdict is exceptionally important for the standards of international law because it prevented the introduction of the legal and political norms that have called into question the peace, stability and even legitimacy of UN and NATO existing and future peacekeeping and military operations throughout the world.

3. War and Reconciliation

“War is the bane of human nature,” wrote the Renaissance playwright Marin Držić long ago. Every war is the ultimate evil and should be avoided at all costs, creating victims on all sides. However, it is necessary to differentiate between an unjust war, which undoubtedly—and according to the verdict of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia dated November 16, 2012—was Serbian aggression against the Republic of Croatia in 1991-1995, and the just defensive war waged by the Republic of Croatia. Unfortunately, war most often entails the suffering of ordinary little people who have been brought into desperate situations. When war afflicts a nation, when people are afflicted by this grave evil, everything should be done for the war to be waged within the framework of international conventions, these civilizational achievements of minimal humanity in situations when a person as a being is reduced to the bare minimum of human possibilities. Those who, nonetheless, violate the moral standards in war should be exposed and fairly punished in order to reestablish justice in society. This is especially important in societies and among nations that have been at war. It is precisely for this reason that it is important to expose the true victims and the true perpetrators of crimes, for example, the perpetrators of the crimes against Croatian civilians in Vukovar, Glinska Poljana, Baćin, Škabrnja, Dubrovnik, Karlovac and Osijek, particularly during the years when many Croatian cities were being shelled, as well as the crimes against Serbian civilians in Grubori and Varivode. Nevertheless, to condemn just anyone because someone was killed is not an act of reinstating justice but an act of retaliation, which means the continued generation of injustice and maintenance of a state of tension.
However, mere justice, as necessary as it is for healing relationships among people, is not sufficient to achieve lasting peace. For peace, something more needed. It is necessary to open the horizons of encounters with God and man, and to try to forgive. The Croatian words for forgiveness, oprost and oproštenje, indicate what we have to do first. In the root of the word prost is the concept of slobodan, free. Therefore, to forgive, oprostiti, means to liberate oneself from attachment to evil and then, in freedom, to give the other an opportunity for a new encounter, a new beginning. Without this, there is no peace and, thus, no happiness, either for individuals or nations. The Blessed John Paul II specifically taught us this when he spoke of “purification of memory” as a particular “expression of conversion and fidelity to Jesus Christ, the only Savior of mankind.”
He demonstrated the meaning of “purification of memory” on that first Sunday in Lent (March 12, 2000), when in the name of the Church, gazing at the crucified Christ in the Basilica of St. Peter, he “implored forgiveness” for each of her children. He also added that “‘purification of memory’ has strengthened our steps for the journey towards the future and has made us more humble and vigilant in our acceptance of the Gospel” (Novo millennio ineunte, 6). The teaching “forgive and seek forgiveness” is meant to remove every feeling of hatred, darkness and spiritual bondage from the memory so that we may be truly free.

4. The Croatian State
After 20 years of Croatian independence, regarding peace in this region, it seems advisable and useful for us to take a brief inventory of what happened in Croatia in connection with the events in The Hague. It is difficult to avoid the impression that those in Croatia who wish to be engaged in public affairs, to be politicians, are somehow more politicians in Croatia than Croatian politicians. It is often the impression that many of our public officials and politicians have a servile attitude regarding the demands they receive from European headquarters, while communicating superficially, incompletely and not infrequently arrogantly with their own people. The people justifiably expect their representatives, both inside and outside the country, to be dignified and free from the colonial syndrome to which small nations often succumb in the modern world. Croatia is a cofounder of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Since the work of the Tribunal is drawing to an end, it seems useful to conclude this episode in our history, lest it burden us in the future. We do not intend to make a detailed analysis. We merely want to raise issues to remind us of some of the historical moments and events that are important for the development of Croatia and connected with the work of the Tribunal. In this respect, it would be worthwhile to consider the following:
– We ask ourselves why Croatia never posed the question in the UN Security Council about why the Tribunal indicted deceased persons who could not defend themselves, which is contrary to legal and civilizational traditions, something Croatia could and should have done.
– Furthermore, Croatia never initiated discussion on the compatibility of the definition of a unified criminal enterprise with international criminal law.
– Croatia never insisted on a discussion of the so-called “artillery logs.” How can a serious court accept and raise an indictment if it lacks key evidence?
– Croatia did not raise the question before the UN Security Council about the log books kept by European observers during Operation Storm, which the Trial Chamber sought and the European Union claims are not in its archives.
– In 2010, when the prosecutor admitted in his closing remarks that Operation Storm was an international conflict, Croatia did not initiate a discussion before the UN Security Council about the international conflict, explicitly asking for a definition of aggression in this case (and not in the case of a civil war) and for the determination of who on the soil of the former state had committed a crime against peace, thereby violating one of the most important universal legal values.
– In Croatia, no one has been charged or prosecuted for scandalously allowing a British television crew into the presidential archives.
How did the so-called Brijuni transcripts go to The Hague illegally and were they not protected and marked by the seal of the state? How is it that no one has accounted for this? Rule 54bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the ICTY regulate the protection of documents that are of importance to the national security of a state, as well as limited examination of witnesses who are important or were important in the national security system and the constitutional order of a state. At the Tribunal, this article is known colloquially as the “Croatian article” and was used by all the states (e.g., Milošević’s censored transcripts) except Croatia. Here, the principle that all are equal before the law should be taken into account and those persons who without authorization and irresponsibly brought national security into question should be held accountable.
– The Croatian state must no longer be so indifferent toward its citizens and also toward the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, because Croatia is the homeland of all Croats. Currently at The Hague, Croats from Bosnia and Herzegovina are on trial. Croatia has a moral and constitutional obligation to help the Croats from Bosnia and Herzegovina and should do so now, when there are still Croats in The Hague who need the help of the Croatian state and Croatian politicians. This is not because anything would be concealed before the court but so that the truth comes out into the open and the verdicts will be sentences for those who committed crimes.
– With the release of the Croatian generals from prison in The Hague, the obligations of the Republic of Croatia regarding the solving of problems resulting from the long trials of these innocent and persecuted people do not end. Despite the clause according to which the Tribunal is not required to compensate those found not guilty for damages, compensation should be paid from the funds of the Republic of Croatia, which would be paid from the war damages that Croatia must not stop seeking, i.e., it should not withdraw the charges of genocide that the International Court of Justice declared relevant even before the verdict regarding Operation Storm, since this is a question of justice and, then, peace. Croatia has a moral obligation to pay compensatory damages to the generals and their families, who have endured much suffering. Furthermore, those people, friends and acquaintances of the generals who were wiretapped, whose apartments were searched, who were denounced because they believed in the innocence of innocent people, should be morally and materially compensated for damages and receive apologies.
– The Republic of Croatia did not commit aggression against neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is also evident from the acquittal of the Croatian generals on November 16, 2012, since the Tribunal clearly ruled that there was no government policy of ethnic cleansing or a policy of crime—with the exceptions of individuals—but only just defense. Such a defensive war was also waged by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Without Croats, Bosnia and Herzegovina would not exist today as a country because the votes of Croats were crucial in the referendum for the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the military action of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina protected, as much as possible, the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina and also saved and defended Bosnia and Herzegovina as a country from Serbian aggression. President Tuđman played a key role by urging Croats to vote for the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina because it is their homeland. Croatian policy then was to manage as best it could in the existing situation. The main culprit for the tragic events in Bosnia and Herzegovina was the aggressive Serbian policy, while the main accomplice was not Croatian policy but rather the policies of the international community who, with their dirty games, endangered people’s lives. We only recall the UN protected zones, Srebrenica and Bihać, the latter of which would certainly have become “another Srebrenica” if the Croatian army under the command of General Gotovina had not liberated the occupied Croatian territory and parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to the Washington Agreement, so the Croatian army cannot possibly be an aggressor in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Finally, it should be noted that everything that follows from the acquittals of the Croatian Generals Gotovina and Markač should be taken into account by ICTY when rendering the final verdict in the cases of the six indicted Croats from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
– The generals said that as of today the war is part of history, we should look toward the future and Croatia is a country where all people who wish it well can live. Their assertions are based on their faith and Christian forgiveness. This sad war, the postwar period and the ongoing Hague epic have been imbued by the fervent and profound prayers of the people. Often in the troubled history of the Croats, they had no other recourse than to console themselves in prayer and the intercession of their queen, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
These prayers were frequently heard and the Croats were saved. We recall that soldiers went off to the Homeland War with rosaries in their hands and around their necks. When we in the Commission called for prayer for a just verdict for the generals by the Appeals Chamber, many mocked but the majority of our nation prayed. When the Croatian bishops called for prayer for a just verdict by the Appeals Chamber, Croats readily accepted this despite the first instance verdict. People held vigils, prayed, fasted and the prayers were answered. After the acquittal of the Croatian generals in which they were exculpated, Ban Josip Jelačić Square in Zagreb, like all the cities and towns in Croatia, was filled with the spontaneous utterance of the Lord’s Prayer, thanksgiving to God.
If we conclude with what remains for us after this verdict, we could say: Trust in God, the righteous judge, but also trust in God, the merciful Father, who most of all wants his children to be good to each other, to learn to forgive as he forgives them, and to leave this world better and more beautiful for those who come after them.
We hope that the centuries of wars in this region are ended. Through the centuries, Croats have produced many skilled warriors and generals. Today we need skilled politicians, skilled intellectuals, workers and students who, as true patriots, will know how to preserve the peace and allow people to live happily in this beautiful country. We urge all the inhabitants of Croatia to pray tirelessly to the Good Lord and, inspired by prayer, work tirelessly for the country’s progress, prepared for sacrifices and self-denial, but in truth and justice.
God bless our homeland, Croatia!
In Zagreb, November 23, 2012
Msgr. Vlado Košić
President of the Commission