Parliament Speaker receives delegation of women raped in war

Zagreb - Parliament Speaker Josip Leko on Tuesday received a delegation of the Women in the Homeland War association, which gave him the "Suncica" documentary, showing the testimonies of women raped by Serb paramilitaries and members of the former Yugoslav army in the 1991-95 war. 

The delegation said they would like MPs to see the testimonies so as to be dignified in discussing a bill on the rights of Homeland War rape victims, parliament said in a press release. 

Association president Marija Sliskovic said the association left the working group which prepared the bill because it disagreed with a provision stating that war crimes were committed by members of enemy paramilitary and military forces and members of the Croatian army and police. Sliskovic said the provision failed to identify the aggressor army which committed rape as part of a war plan, and that the rapes committed by Croatian forces were sporadic and mostly prosecuted. The association also asks that the bill immediately determine the amount of damages for war rape victims. 

Leko said he understood their problems and vowed to organise a screening of the documentary for the MPs before the discussion on the bill. He added that Croatia started drawing up the bill too late, only in 2013. (Hina)