The former Chief Prosecutor at the Hague has criticised the release of two Croatian generals by the war crimes court, stating that it was “not justice”.
Speaking to the Serbian tabloid Blic, Del Ponte said she was “shocked” by their acquittal, adding,
"I was very surprised and stupefied. It is completely incredible what happened after the sentence of 24 years in prison for Gotovina. Unbelievable. I cannot accept it. I feel full solidarity with the Serb victims of the crime. The crime, that we backed up with hard evidence."
"The Serbian government and Serbs cannot accept such a verdict, and I agree fully with what I heard them say on televisoin. It is clear a crime was committed - and the question now is, who committed it".
"We will see what will happen next, but this certainly is not justice,"
One of the Croatian general’s defense lawyer Luka Mištić however responded to Del Ponte’s comments by saying he would "report the former chief prosecutor to the Swiss Bar Association" on "ethical grounds".
Del Ponte, recently joined a UN team investigating and compiling evidence of human rights abuses and war crimes in Syria.
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