ICJ hearing continues by interrogation of Croatian witnesses

THE HAGUE - The hearing continues on Tuesday before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the dispute between Serbia and Croatia on mutual suits for genocide committed in the territory of Croatia in the period from 1991 to 1995 by further presentation of arguments by the Croatian legal team, followed by cross-examination of witnesses proposed by Croatia.

In the proceedings, Croatia proposed hearing of 12 witnesses but only six of them will be interrogated before the court, while the statements of the remaining six will be filed in a written form. The court imposed a ban on publication of testimonies before the conclusion of the hearing on April 1.

The witnesses brought forth by the Croatian legal team include President of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia Sonja Biserko who will be examined on the historical context of the conflict in Croatia in early '90s.

One of the witnesses summoned by the Croatian team is Ivan Grujic who has been in charge of exhumation at mass grave sites and identification of victims in Croatia since the war.

Witness Maja Katic will speak about murders in the village of Bogdanovci near Vukovar and Franjo Kozul will make a statement about the crimes in Vukovar, head of the Croatian legal team Vesna Crnic-Grotic said.

Serbia's witnesses are still unknown and Croatia released on Monday, at the beginning of the hearing, that its team will not cross-examine them.

During the Monday session, representatives of the Croatian legal team presented their most important arguments to support the claim that Serbia committed genocide.

Representatives of the Serbian legal team refuted the claim as ironic because the Serb people were targeted by genocide in...