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BELGRADE: A rights group on Saturday sharply criticised the Serbian government after the defence ministry published and promoted books that include the war memories of two former generals convicted of war crimes by a UN court.
The Youth Initiative for Human Rights said in an open letter to Prime Minister Ana Brnabic that the move amounted to open state support for the war criminals sentenced by the Yugoslav tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.
The ministry rejected the criticism in a statement, insisting that the generals have the right to “state their view of the historic events that they had participated in”.
The court convicted ex-generals Nebojsa Pavkovic and Vladimir Lazarevic for atrocities committed by Serb troops in Kosovo during the 1998-99 violence that left over 10,000 people dead and forced nearly one million from their homes.
The court said the two officers were involved in a terror campaign against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo that included murder, rape and forced deportations.
Pavkovic is serving a 22-year prison term while Lazarevic has returned to Serbia after 14 years in jail.
Serbia’s defence ministry is presenting the two ex-generals’ war testimonies at the Belgrade Book Fair this week. The books are part of a seven-book edition that focuses on the 78-day Nato bombing in 1999, which ended the war and forced Serbia to pull out of Kosovo.
In its statement, the defence ministry said the books were sold out in three days at the fair and additional ones have been printed.
“We see no reason to be ashamed of our people’s struggle and those who led that struggle,” the statement said.
Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2018
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