|
|
|
|
|
The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, condemns in the strongest possible terms the bomb attack carried out against prominent representatives of the Croat people in Herzegovina - the family Ivankovic. Mladen Ivankovic is Federation Minister without portfolio, and his brother, Jerko Ivankovic, is a member of the BiH House of Peoples. A car bomb destroyed a vehicle outside the family home in Siroki Brijeg early this morning. Fortunately, nobody was injured.
Yesterday, the two Ivankovic brothers issued a public statement in which they criticised the HDZ. Among other things, they stated: "The fact that your economic interests are closely connected with the fate of the Hercegovacka Banka is undeniable, so we remind you and the Croatian people, in whose name you always talk, that we, too, hold shares in this bank, and that we will try to gain compensation for the damage inflicted in legal ways - but certainly not by stirring up the people with the goal of protecting our own interests." The High Representative is clear -- the International Community will not tolerate criminal actions, such as the car bombing against the Ivankovic brothers or the violence used by organised thugs last Friday in Mostar and other places in Herzegovina. It will do everything in its power to bring the people who planted this bomb to justice. "This act shows that hostages are not enough for the extremists, they even are willing to put lives at risk," the High Representative said. "These are criminals trying to terrorise the Croat people in Bosnia and Herzegovina at a time of peace - Catholic Easter." The High Representative called on the Croat people of Bosnia and Herzegovina not to protect those behind the violence. "It is the future of the Croat people in Bosnia and Herzegovina that these people are putting at stake," he said. "The well-organised mob which spread fear on the streets of Mostar and elsewhere on Friday appears to be taking more serious criminal actions. The true victims remain the Croat people in whose name such criminal acts are committed. Ordinary Croats are being held hostage by a handful of criminals who claim to act on their behalf." The High Representative urges Federation law enforcement agencies to act quickly to prosecute the criminals behind today's bombings in Siroki Brijeg and last Friday's violence in Herzegovina.
|