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