Croatian government: Karadzic sentence "minimum" for victims

The Croatian government welcomed the 40-year prison sentence which the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia handed down against Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic for genocide and other war crimes against Croats and Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The government said in a press release it was aware that there was no sentence which could bring back to life the innocent victims, added that the conviction of one of the main protagonists in the aggressive Greater Serbian policy in Bosnia, which resulted in genocide and horrific crimes, "represents a minimum for which the victims and their families, unfortunately, waited too long."

The government said the punishment of those responsible for war crimes was an essential prerequisite for the policy of reconciliation and the stabilisation of relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

(Text: Hina)