AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Media Advisory

AI index: EUR 64/001/2011

18 January 2011

Amnesty International welcomes war crimes debate in Croatia

Amnesty International welcomes the public discussion on the prosecution of crimes committed during the 1991-1995 war in Croatia following the organization’s report Behind a wall of silence: Prosecution of war crimes in Croatia, published in December 2010.

However, Amnesty International regrets that some aspects of its report have been misrepresented. For example, Amnesty international in its report did not express an opinion on who started the war in the former Yugoslavia and has never taken a position on this issue in any other context. Amnesty International’s focus has always been the human rights of all people irrespective of their nationality.

The organization also emphasizes that all findings of the report are based on the official information and statistics offered to its delegates in the period between 2007 and 2010 by the authorities of the Republic of Croatia.

The Croatian authorities were provided with the report two weeks before its publication and were asked for their comments. Amnesty International did not received any comments before the launch of the report.

Amnesty International has learnt today that the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia has made their comments on the report available to the media. The organization regrets that the Ministry of Justice had decided to do so before communicating them to its representatives.

The organization will closely analyse the response of the Croatian authorities in due course and issue its statement in response.

See also:
IZA ZIDA ŠUTNJE SAŽETO IZVJEŠĆE O PROCESUIRANJU RATNIH ZLOČINA U HRVATSKOJ

For further information and to arrange for an interview, please contact:
Lydia Aroyo, Press Officer at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International, +44 (0) 7771 796 350 or laroyo@amnesty.org.