INVESTIGATIVE JUDGE QUESTIONS LOCAL LEADER

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000680

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM HR WAR CRIMES
SUBJECT: INVESTIGATIVE JUDGE QUESTIONS LOCAL LEADER
AND WAR CRIME SUSPECT BRANIMIR GLAVAS OF OSIJEK

Ref: Zagreb 588 and previous


1. Summary and comment: MP and local leader Branimir
Glavas was interviewed June 1 by an investigative judge
about 1991 war crimes in the city of Osijek. When
Glavas and another suspect complete their statements,
the investigative judge will decide on their criminal
prosecution. Neither Glavas nor the judge mentioned any
possible involvement of Parliament Speaker Seks. After
the marathon six-hour session, Glavas reiterated to the
press his contention that the charges were politically
motivated; Seks publicly rejected the assertion. More
a regional than a national figure these days, Glavas's
testimony did not warrant front-page treatment, where
the dramatic rescue of a lost five-year-old child was
the leading story. End Summary and comment.


2. Following his recent loss of parliamentary immunity
from prosecution (reftel),Member of Parliament and
Chairman of Osijek City Council Branimir Glavas talked
for six hours to an investigative judge at the County
Court in Zagreb about the torture of at least five and
death of two ethnic Serb civilians in the summer of
1991 in Osijek. The interview began on June 1 and is
scheduled to continue on June 5. During this initial
appearance before the investigative judge, Glavas
focused on his own command responsibility -- or a lack
thereof -- as Osijek's municipal defense secretary
during the time the crimes occurred. The press reported
him as arguing that his actual command responsibility
started only in December of 1991 when late President
Tudjman appointed him Commander of Osijek City Defense.


3. The interview with the investigative judge came as
a consequence of the state attorney's request for an
investigation. The court will decide on this motion
only when it concludes the interview with Glavas, but
also with another suspect, Krunoslav Fehir, who is
scheduled to make his statement on June 2. A member of
the so-called "Branimir Battalion" presumably nicknamed
after Glavas, Fehir was the first active protagonist to
confirm years-old reports -- mainly by independent
weekly Feral Tribune -- about wartime persecutions of
Serb civilians in Osijek.


4. Throughout the pre-investigating stage of the
"Glavas case," speculations persisted about its
possible implications for the current President of
Croatian Parliament, Vladimir Seks, who was the head of
what briefly existed as the "Crisis HQ for Eastern
Slavonia" where Osijek is situated. During his initial
appearance before the investigative judge, Glavas
didn't specifically highlight Vladimir Seks, who is
presently his political adversary.

FRANK