Following Croatian Parliament speaker Gordan Jandrokovic’s statement that Zagreb will use Serbia’s accession negotiations with the European Union (EU) to send a message that it will not tolerate things such as the indictment for Petrovacka Cesta, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said that the Croatian leadership “is now also officially threatening” to block Serbia’s European path.
“An EU member dares to publicly say that if you seek justice for the murder of Serbian children, because four of them, between the ages of 6 and 13, were killed there, you cannot be a member of the EU. Is that the rule of law? Are those European values? And you are not ashamed to openly say this,” Brnabic wrote in a Twitter post.
“Croatia rejects the indictment, it is of a political nature and the message to everyone in Serbia is: turn to the future, look in the mirror and think about what you are doing,” said Jandrokovic after the Belgrade Court of Appeals confirmed an indictment against four Croatian pilots charged with firing rockets at a column of refugees on Petrovacka cesta near Bosanski Petrovac in August 1995.
“That is Vucic’s doing, he has learnt nothing from history and this does not contribute to improving our bilateral relations,” said Jandrokovic adding that Croatia believes that the indictment is legally unfounded and that it will take all possible steps to protect its pilots.
“Croatia will use the negotiations to send a message to Serbia that it will not tolerate such things. If they want to go towards the European Union, they have to behave in a European manner. They have to decide if they want to go towards Russia or towards the West,” said Jandrokovic.
Commenting Jandrokovic call to everyone in Serbia to “look in the mirror”, Brnabic said that Serbia has looked in the mirror and realized that it has to seek justice for children, young girls and the elderly killed on the Petrovacka Cesta in August 1995.
“And what do you see when you look in the mirror? A man defending and celebrating murderers of children, young girls and elderly people? Your ‘heroes’ killed unarmed people, in a refugee column, from the air,” said the Prime Minister.
Brnabic said that Serbia has turned to the future and urged Jandrokovic to do the same.
