A thematic debate on the role of international criminal justice in reconciliation and on the role of courts such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the UN General Assembly in New York, convened by UN GA president, Serbian diplomat Vuk Jeremic, which began on Wednesday resembled a political debate rather than something that could lead to improving international tribunals, Croatia's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusic said on Thursday.
"We consider that the debate in the UN was more a political debate and less about actually improving international courts. That is how we reacted via our ambassador to the UN and we will end it at that in the hope that in the future a higher level of maturity will be reached and we will truly be able to discuss the functioning of international tribunals", Minister Pusic told the press after meeting with her Belgian counterpart Didier Reynder who is on an official visit to Zagreb.
She added that Croatia had made a decision to cooperate with international courts and considers that there is no alternative to international justice. We will always be ready to participate in discussions how to improve and upgrade international judicial institutions and international tribunals, Pusic stressed.
Serbia's President Tomislav Nikolic, is the only state official that took part in the debate on Wednesday accusing the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of being biased against the Serbs, Serbia and Serb indictees claiming that an "atmosphere of a lynch existed toward anything Serbian", and that this could not lead to reconciliation and that selective justice cannot contribute to peace and stability. He compared the Hague based tribunal with the Inquisition.
Croatian Ambassador to the UN Ranko Vilovic had said that it seemed that the truth and justice were not the reason why the debate was organised and that President Nikolic had made claims that did not correspond to the facts.
