22. 09. 2005

CHARGES AGAINST AUSTRALIAN DAILY

BELGRADE, September 22, 2005 – Dragan Vasiljkovic, nicknamed Captain Dragan, denied any legal proceedings against him in The Hague Tribunal, Croatia or Bosnia and Herzegovina. Vasiljkovic announced launching a defamation action against the national Australian daily newspaper The Australian for an article which “groundlessly accused him of war crimes”. “The lawyers assured me of winning the lawsuit with suitable moral and financial compensation. The daily will also be obliged to cover all legal costs”, said Vasiljkovic at the yesterday’s press conference. Vasiljkovic said that the authors of the disputable article declared series of untruths, accusing him of “alleged rape, torture and murders of Muslims in Bosnia, killings of civilians and ethnic cleansing”. Vasiljkovic stated not even Croats, Bosnians or the Hague Tribunal accused him of those things. According to Vasiljkovic, this process will be a turning point in commonly adopted practice of treating Serbs in the western media. “We will prove that every story has two sides. We will prove to others, but also to ourselves, that the defense of one nation is not and cannot be regarded as crime, of course, if you fight the battles chivalrously”, Vasiljkovic said. Vasiljkovic also said he had requested audience with the Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and that he has spoken with the Serbian Emigration Minister Vojislav Vukcevic. “The Serbian Government will back me with the documentation required for the lawsuit. I will try to rebut any concrete indictment”, said Vasiljkovic, adding he had spoken with the Patriarch Pavle who told Vasiljkovic that one needs to fight for the truth.