Vučić's address at the the session of the UN Security Council VIDEO

Vučić's address at the the session of the UN Security Council VIDEO

President Aleksandar Vučić said at the beginning of his speech that he would first talk about Serbia's relations with the Mechanism, and then about the work of that body.

"The Republic of Serbia has raised the issue of serving sentences in Serbia several times, but that has not happened yet. It is natural that Serbia wants its citizens to serve their sentences in Serbia," Vucic said.

He points out that there is a special problem on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, where they now want to try Serbs who have already been tried. He states that Serbia seriously understands its obligations to cooperate with the Mechanism.

"That territory is under the temporary mandate of the UN. The president of the mechanism submitted a report on the alleged non-fulfillment of the rules, because Petar Jojić and Vjerica Radeta were not extradited," said Vučić.

"The first decision from June 2018 that the criminal prosecution of Petar Jojic and Vjerica Radeta should be transferred to Serbia. The Republic of Serbia conducted an appropriate process and gave guarantees and accepted that it be a supervised process and take measures provided for in Article 6 of the Mechanism Statute. Serbia has extradited all persons accused by the prosecutor's office," he explains.

Serbia condemns the crime in Srebrenica, there is no doubt about that, he adds. However, he criticizes the Hague Tribunal, stating that no one was held responsible for the crimes committed against Serbs.

"Members of other nations have not been tried, despite international legal norms. I will try to show you plastically how international justice is tailored. Serbs have been sentenced to a total of 1.138 years in prison, to eight life sentences. At the same time, the Hague tribunal has not convicted a single Croat. Prosecutors deliberately chose Gotovina, Oric and Haradinaj, and they were convicted according to the same pattern, except for Ramush Haradinaj. All were convicted, but were acquitted by second-instance mysterious decisions. All witnesses against Haradinaj either killed themselves or were killed", Vucic said, adding:

"Despite selective justice, we are facing the future, not the past. I have a message for our citizens: Heads up, neither Serbia nor the Serbian people have been convicted of anything", Serbian President concluded.

After addresses of the representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, addressed the UN Security Council again.

"I did not say anything against the countries from the region, but the Bosnian and Croatian representatives did it. The Croatian representative said that it was known "who the devil is", and I want to tell him that there was Jasenovac and that everyone knows who the devil was. We have different opinions, but we respect their position even though we do not share it", he said.

As he further stated, there are more missing Serbs than Croats on the territory of Croatia, and that is the conclusion of the Croatian Red Cross. "Find a place in Serbia and let us know that you have suspicions that people have been buried, and we will go there with you and carry out the excavation and bring the truth to their families," he says.

He stated that Serbia will fulfill its obligations.

Session in New York

The session of the UN Security Council on the work of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals began tonight in New York.

The report was submitted by the president of the court, Carmelo Agius, and the chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz. Representatives of the member states of the Security Council will take part in the debate on the report, and then the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, and representatives of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Rwanda will address.

The session is chaired by a representative of Estonia, which is the country holding the presidency of the UN Security Council this month. The representative of Russia said that he noticed enthusiasm when it came to condemning Serbs.

"Why are you turning your head before the crimes of Albanians. The International Tribunal is a tool of revenge, not justice. The Residual Mechanism inherited the negative traits of its predecessor," the Russian envoy said, saying the verdicts were not fair and that crimes committed by other nations were covered up. It should be reiterated that the Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, assessed tonight that no one in the UN Security Council will be able to remain silent at the presentation of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, and added that today is a difficult day for our country due to the pressures that will follow.

"Vučić's address will be historic and I think that in the minds of these people, if not in politics, some things will change, because no one will be able to remain silent on what the president will say. Serb victims, their families, have not experienced justice and become are second-rate victims", Brnabic told TV Pink, adding that she believes that this address will be included in history books and textbooks.

The President of Serbia announced on his Instagram profile that "our team is ready to protect the interests of Serbia and the Serbian people. Surrender is not an option. Long live Serbia."