Serbia rejects the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in the genocide case against it filed by Croatia, Serbian representative Tibor Varady told the ICJ on Monday, according to DPA. Referring to the fact that Serbia was not a member of the United Nations at the time Croatia filed its Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Varady said the UN-court has no authority to deal with the case. Varady was speaking at the first public hearing in the case Croatia brought in July 1999 against what was then still Yugoslavia. The Croats claim Serb forced committed mass killings on Croatian territory after Croatia broke away from Yugoslavia and declared its independence. Serbian lawyer Varady also rejected that genocide had taken place. However, he explicitly acknowledged "Croatian suffering at the hands of Serbs." He added that suffering had taken place on both sides, while both sides had also committed crimes.
