Brnabić Accuses Picula of 'Celebrating War Crimes,' Mišetić Fires Back: 'She's Lying Again'
Clash of Interpretations over Operation Storm: Serbian Official Accuses Croatian MEP, Lawyer Luka Mišetić Defends Hague Tribunal Verdict.
Clash of Interpretations over Operation Storm: Serbian Official Accuses Croatian MEP, Lawyer Luka Mišetić Defends Hague Tribunal Verdict.
Ana Brnabić, President of the National Assembly of Serbia, on Wednesday accused European Parliament rapporteur for Serbia Tonino Picula of "celebrating war crimes" and "ethnic cleansing" of Serbs during the military-police operation Storm. Brnabić made her claims on social media platform X, reopening the debate on the events of August 1995.
Brnabić claims that the goal of Operation Storm was the expulsion of the Serbian population from Croatia. According to her, during the operation, "around 250,000 Serbs were expelled, while about 2,000 elderly people, women, and children were killed." She also quoted Croatia's first president, Franjo Tuđman, citing his statement that it was necessary to "hit the Serbs so that they practically disappear," asserting that this statement confirms the true aim of the operation. On this basis, she concludes that Picula today "celebrates that crime."
Her claims drew a response from American-Croatian lawyer Luka Mišetić, who represented General Ante Gotovina before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. Mišetić said that Brnabić is "lying again."
"The United Nations Tribunal considered Tuđman's statement about Serbs needing to 'practically disappear' and unanimously, all eight international judges, concluded that it referred to Serbian military forces, not Serbian civilians (see paragraph 1990 of the Gotovina judgment). Brnabić will likely claim the court was 'politicized,' but the facts speak for themselves and cannot be undone by the Serbian nationalist propaganda narrative that Ms. Brnabić and her political patron systematically promote," Mišetić stated.
Mišetić's reaction refers to the interpretation of Tuđman's statement contained in the trial judgment in the Gotovina case. In it, the Trial Chamber analyzed the context of the disputed sentence and concluded that it clearly referred to military forces. His response came after Brnabić once again used the same statement as confirmation of her claim that the Croatian state leadership intended to expel the Serbian population during Operation Storm.
This exchange of accusations took place on August 6, 2026, on the anniversary of Operation Storm, which is celebrated in Croatia as Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day, while in Serbia it is marked as a day of remembrance for the Serbs who were killed and expelled.
