WAR CRIMES: CROATIA PROSECUTING ITS OWN

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 001553

SIPDIS


DEPT FOR EUR DICARLO; EUR/SCE ENGLISH, BELL; S/WCI-PROSPER,
HODGKINSON; L/EUR JOHNSON; INR MORIN
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO NSC BRAUN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/21/2015
TAGS: KAWC PGOV PREL HR
SUBJECT: WAR CRIMES: CROATIA PROSECUTING ITS OWN

REF: A. ZAGREB 1254


B. ZAGREB 1175 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: Ralph Frank, reasons 1.4 (b) & (d).


1. (U) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: The GoC welcomed the September 14
decision by the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (IChY) to refer the war crimes case against
Rahim Ademi and Mirko Norac to the Croatia, saying it shows
the credibility of the country's judiciary. Recent domestic
investigations and prosecutions uphold the confidence the
ICTY has shown in the local courts, demonstrating that the
GoC no longer shrinks from addressing crimes committed by
Croatians against ethnic Serbs. USG-funded training and
equipment have helped strengthen the courts' resolve in these
sensitive cases. END SUMMARY AND COMMENT.

CROATIA'S FIRST (AND ONLY?) RULE 11 BIS TRANSFER
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2. (SBU) Ademi and Norac are charged with individual and
command responsibility for crimes against Serb civilians and
prisoners of war during the 1993 Medak Pocket Operation. The
Croatian judiciary is well aware that the Ademi-Norac
referral will serve as a critical test of its readiness for
additional transfers, though most likely only cases at the
pre-indictment stage. The GoC is anxious to fully
demonstrate this capacity, both to remove a barrier to
Euro-Atlantic integration and to reduce the political fallout
from sending indoctees to The ague.


3. (SBU) The ICTY Office of the Prosecutor hasuntil October
14 to hand over all case material and evidence to Croatian
Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic. Bajic must then
recommend to the Supreme Court where he can best prosecute
the case. The Supreme Court then accepts or rejects the
recommendation, and, once a proposal is accepted, officially
designates the venue for the trial. Bajic recently told
PolOff he intends to request that the case be tried in Zagreb
County Court, which just convicted five former Croatian
reserve policemen for a wartime murder near Pakrac in 1991.

COMBINED 30 YEARS FOR DEFENDANTS IN PAKRACKA POLJANA CASE
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4. (U) The Zagreb County Court sentenced the five to prison
terms ranging from two to ten years for murder and illegal
detention in an unofficial prison camp about 100 kilometers
east of Zagreb. According to the verdict, ethnic Serb
prisoners were treated in a manner "not seen since the times
of Nazism." An inadmissible confession of one defendant
indicated more than 200 people were killed in the Pakracka
Poljana camp, but the court was only able to uncover evidence
for one murder.


5. (C) At the time of the crimes, the five were under the
command of Tomislav Mercep, who many expected to be indicted
by the ICTY. Instead, his case will likely be a non-11 bis
transfer. Head of the ICTY liaison office in Zagreb Thomas
Osorio told PolOff that much of the evidence for the Pakracka
Poljana case came from ICTY investigators, already
demonstrating Croatia's capacity to handle such transfers.

RE-TRIAL BEGINS IN INFAMOUS LORA PRISON CASE
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6. (U) On September 12, the Split County Court began the
re-trial of eight Croatian m6litary police for the murder and
abuse of Serb inmates at the Lora Military Prison in 1992.
The original trial in 2001 ended in acquittal but was marred
by extreme misconduct and bias on the part of the presiding
judge in favor of the defendants. The Supreme Court quashed
the acquittal in 2004 and ordered a trail before a new panel
of judges.


7. (U) The new presiding judge, Spomenka Tokovic, assured
PolOff that the re-trial will be free of any bias. In the
first week of hearings, she has already demonstrated that the
new trial will be far more credible than the first. Judge
Tokovic also expressed gratitude for the USG donation of a
digital video-conference system for use in witness
protection, which she said will be vital for questioning the
55 witnesses from four countries to be heard in the case.


8. (C) Croatian police also continue to aggressively
investigate liquidations of Serb civilians in and around
Osijek in 1991 (ref A) despite attempts by suspects to
obstruct the process (septel).
FRANK


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