Croatian President Milanovic will decorate the Special Police of the Ministry of the Interior of the Croatian republic of Herceg Bosna, which commanded, and on behalf of all its members, I will receive this decoration as their commander, former general Zlatan Mijo Jelic told N1, who was indicted in Bosnia for war crimes.
Mijo-Jelic said the reactions coming from Bosnia are political games and that he is not running away from any responsibility.
“It is true that the Prosecutor's Office has filed an indictment against me. I duly responded to the summons which the Bosnian Prosecutor's Office sent to the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Croatia in Zagreb for legal assistance in questioning me as a suspect, and I did so in early 2015. I did not receive an invitation to Sarajevo but in Zagreb. I responded properly, I have not been convicted, nor do I have any verdict against me,” he said.
The largest Bosniak party, the Democratic Action Party (SDA), Bosniak member of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency member Sefik Dzaferovic and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) responded on Saturday and Sunday to the news that the former general would be awarded in Croatia, urging the Croatian President not to award him because it would harm the relations between the two countries.
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Jelic told N1 he did not escape to Croatia in 2015 because he is not a Bosnian citizen, but Croatian. When asked when did he renounce the Bosnian citizenship, he said it happened in 2000 or 2001.
“The moment Bosnia confirmed the indictment against me, I immediately asked my lawyer to transfer the indictment to Zagreb, where I live, where I was reported and where I am ready to face the indictment because I am not running away from any indictments. I feel innocent because everything is lies and forgery,” he said.
“Bosnia tries according to two laws. Croats and Serbs are tried according to the Law that was passed in 2003 and confirmed in 2005. Muslims are tried according to the so-called Law from the former Yugoslavia. The basic postulate of law, as confirmed by the International Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, is that every accused person or suspect must be tried according to the law that was valid when the alleged act was committed. This is the situation in Bosnia: some are tried according to one law, while the others according to some retroactive law,” Jelic noted.
According to him, that is why the commanders of units in Bosnia who are charged with acts in the war, are fleeing the country because they do not have equal status with others. He added that there was something suspicious from the beginning of the trial against him.
“The 6,720-page indictment was received, studied, read and confirmed in only seven working days, which is a precedent for the brains and minds to be able to receive, study and confirm such an extensive indictment only in seven working days,” Mijo Jelic added.
