After laying wreaths with Serbian President Boris Tadic at Paulin Dvor in tribute to civilian victims of the war crime that happened in that municipality on 11 December 1991, Croatian President Ivo Josipovic said on Thursday that the perpetrators of that crime had been punished but that, unfortunately, there was a number of crimes whose perpetrators remained free, adding that he believed every criminal would be punished.
Addressing reporters, Josipovic said that "crime deserves condemnation, its victims our sympathy, and the victims' families our apology."
"There is no statute of limitations on crimes and Croatia, as a country that respects its and international law, will prosecute every crime regardless of its perpetrator," Josipovic said.
He went on to say that such a policy "has enabled reconciliation, good relations among people, countries and nations".
He added that a country must not participate in covering up crimes, regardless of how difficult its past might have been, and that Croatia was a mature democracy and would act accordingly in prosecuting every crime.
Such a policy is one of the cornerstones on which Croatia is being built, not only as a state but as a member of the international community and as a country that wants to and must have good relations with its neighbours, said Josipovic.
Serbian President Boris Tadic told reporters they came to Paulin Dvor to acknowledge that a crime had happened there and because it would contribute to creating conditions for reconciliation.
"In fighting for the rights of our own nation, we must create room for the equal treatment of every other nation. The destinies of all peoples in Southeast Europe are connected and all those who believed in the 1990s that evil inflicted on another nation would do one's own nation good were very much wrong," Tadic said.
He said that such an attitude was wrong and dangerous and generated misery for generations to come and that he deeply believed that only a Serbia that defended the rights of all people living in it could defend the dignity of its own people, regardless of where it lived. He expressed confidence that the prospects of Serbia and Croatia were now better than they had been in the past century.
He added that in Paulin Dvor he paid tribute to all members of the Serb people who were victims of crimes in Croatia and that at Ovcara he paid tribute to all members of the Croat people who were victims of crimes in Croatia.
"I did it in Croatia today, I did it in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and will continue to do it wherever there are innocent victims, deeply confident that in such a way I am creating conditions for coexistence and reconciliation, and that we are opening new prospects," Tadic said, adding that he bowed down to all innocent victims and believed that he was doing good for the generations to come.
After the news conference, during which questions from the press were not taken, Josipovic and Tadic left Paulin Dvor. The visit to Paulin Dvor took place at the end of Tadic's visit to Croatia and he left for Serbia aboard a ferry boat from Vukovar.
During Tadic's visit to Paulin Dvor, the right-wing Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) in the nearby community of Ernestinovo organised a lighting of candles, carrying banners that read "Apology, not regret" and "We, too, have civilian victims".
