OSCE Office in Zagreb

Croatia has been very active in prosecuting war crimes. More than 600 people have been convicted, another 600 have been indicted and several hundreds more are under investigation. Croatia has issued more than 600 international arrest warrants for war crimes suspects.

Since the war, frequent arrests, extraditions from third countries, and trials have involved the prosecutors and serious crime courts in nearly three quarters of Croatia's 20 counties. Although four courts have special jurisdiction to try war crimes, most cases are investigated and tried in the communities where the crimes occurred.

Until recent years, Croatia's war crimes prosecution was driven almost exclusively by the ethnicity of the victims and suspects, rather than the type of crimes committed. This approach resulted in local prosecutors initiating many cases against Serbs that were unsubstantiated upon later review. Many of these focused on people from the community, while few involved commanders or people in senior positions.

A particular aspect of Croatia's prosecution has been the large-scale use of proceedings held in absentia, as a result of which more than 400 people - nearly all Serbs - stand convicted as indicated by the inclusion of the war crimes issue in the Sarajevo Declaration. This approach had led to a perception in the refugee community that any Serb, regardless of their war-time past, remains subject to arrest and prosecution upon return to Croatia.

Recent efforts to appropriately focus war crimes prosecution on the nature of the crimes committed have taken two forms. First, old cases primarily against Serbs are being reviewed so that only substantiated cases are pursued. Second, increased efforts have been undertaken to prosecute members of the Croatian armed forces for serious crimes against Serb victims.

These latter efforts have met with some resistance. Political support for even-handed accountability is essential to create a climate conducive to the participation of witnesses and the work of judges and prosecutors.

A high number of people suspected of war crimes in Croatia remain outside its borders, frequently living in and holding the citizenship of neighbouring countries. Similarly, many victims and witnesses of crimes committed in Croatia also live outside the country, including those displaced by the war.

The legal framework in Croatia - as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia - severely limit judicial co-operation, upholding sovereignty but facilitating impunity. A full accounting for crimes committed during the war in Croatia depends on lowering these barriers to inter-state co-operation.

In recent years, Croatian NGOs have become increasingly involved in the systematic monitoring of war crimes proceedings. Given that prosecutions will continue for some years, this is an important development.