War Crimes Conviction Overturned.

[undercoverbrother]

http://www.cp24.com/world/war-crime-...rned-1.1040690

Vesna Skare Ozbolt, former legal adviser of late President Tudjman, called the verdict "a victory of justice."
"It corrects all wrongs about our just war," she said. "This proves that there was no ethnic cleansing in Croatia and that it was all lies."

Sad.

[FlamesAddiction]

I don't know man. The Hague tribunal is a joke and has a burden of proof where an accused person is expected to prove their innocence rather than having the prosecution prove guilt. It is a terrible judicial system for western standards. This goes for some of the people convicted on all 3 sides.

I think the statement about saying that it proves that "no crimes happened" during Opertation Storm is over the top and counter prodcutive though. The problem though is assigning guilt to these incidents. The evidence against Gotovina was questionable at best. He conducted a plan under American supervision.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I don't know man. The Hague tribunal is a joke and has a burden of proof where an accused person is expected to prove their innocence rather than having the prosecution prove guilt. It is a terrible judicial system for western standards. This goes for some of the people convicted on all 3 sides.

I think the statement about saying that it proves that "no crimes happened" during Opertation Storm is over the top and counter prodcutive though. The problem though is assigning guilt to these incidents. The evidence against Gotovina was questionable at best. He conducted a plan under American supervision.

Agreed on the tribunal.

What upset me the most is the qoute. This will only go to support Croatia's position that they were only a victim during that madness.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Agreed on the tribunal.

What upset me the most is the qoute. This will only go to support Croatia's position that they were only a victim during that madness.

The Croatian president did come out and say; "There were mistakes in the war, for which Croatia is responsible and for which it will pay its debt to justice.", and that although now none have standing convicitons at the war crimes tribunal and pointed out that several perps have been tried and convicted in Croatian courts over the years.

Sometimes I do think that it would have been better off to let Serbs and Croats deal with it internally. The international shaming that has occurred after the war hasn't helped anyone move forward and fuels the extremists on both sides.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Sometimes I do think that it would have been better off to let Serbs and Croats deal with it internally.

No it would have been even worse.....IMO

The international shaming that has occurred after the war hasn't helped anyone move forward and fuels the extremists on both sides.

It will takes generations to move on from what occured.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

No it would have been even worse.....IMO



It will takes generations to move on from what occured.

I'm a little more optimistic I guess. I have family in some of the hardest hit areas of Eastern Croatia and Bosnia during the war, and when I was there back in September, I found that most people just want to move on.

Anyway, I know that you have a military background so I thought that you might be interested in this:

http://ilawyerblog.com/could-the-got...-british-army/

There are some people that think this was one of the biggest reasons for the acquittal upon appeal.

I think this is also a fairly good take on the situation from a neutral source:

http://www.rusi.org/analysis/comment...50A9F91F4E550/

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I'm a little more optimistic I guess. I have family in some of the hardest hit areas of Eastern Croatia and Bosnia during the war, and when I was there back in September, I found that most people just want to move on.

Every part of me hopes you are right. While it is a lovely part of the world, I still have trouble with state sponsored genocide. I have not been back, but I often think I might like to see what it is like now.

[VO #23]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I don't know man. The Hague tribunal is a joke and has a burden of proof where an accused person is expected to prove their innocence rather than having the prosecution prove guilt. It is a terrible judicial system for western standards. This goes for some of the people convicted on all 3 sides.

I think the statement about saying that it proves that "no crimes happened" during Opertation Storm is over the top and counter prodcutive though. The problem though is assigning guilt to these incidents. The evidence against Gotovina was questionable at best. He conducted a plan under American supervision.

What are you talking about? You really couldn't be more wrong. See this link for particulars on the burden of proof and onus in criminal proceedings at the ICTY: http://www.icty.org/sid/98