Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ZAGREB23
2008-01-14 15:37:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Zagreb
Cable title:  

WAR CRIMES PROSECUTION OF MP GLAVAS CONTINUES, BUT

Tags:  KAWC PGOV HR WAR CRIMES 
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VZCZCXRO1554
RR RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHVB #0023 0141537
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 141537Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8473
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000023 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

EUR/SCE FOR BALIAN, STINCHCOMB
S/WCI FOR AMBASSADOR WILLIAMSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/14/2018
TAGS: KAWC PGOV HR WAR CRIMES
SUBJECT: WAR CRIMES PROSECUTION OF MP GLAVAS CONTINUES, BUT
DETENTION ENDS

REF: A. A. ZAGREB 00019


B. B. 2007 ZAGREB 372 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: POLOFF Douglas Fisk for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000023

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

EUR/SCE FOR BALIAN, STINCHCOMB
S/WCI FOR AMBASSADOR WILLIAMSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/14/2018
TAGS: KAWC PGOV HR WAR CRIMES
SUBJECT: WAR CRIMES PROSECUTION OF MP GLAVAS CONTINUES, BUT
DETENTION ENDS

REF: A. A. ZAGREB 00019


B. B. 2007 ZAGREB 372 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: POLOFF Douglas Fisk for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (SBU) Subsequent to the Zagreb County Court's decision
last week (REF A) that Branimir Glavas had re-gained
parliamentary immunity due to his re-election to the Croatian
Sabor, the Sabor's Mandates and Immunities Committee met on
January 12 and overwhelmingly voted to again lift Glavas'
immunity from prosecution for alleged war crimes committed in
the city of Osijek in the early 1990's. In a separate and
narrower vote, however, the Sabor Committee decided to
maintain Glavas' immunity from detention while the trial is
underway. The Committee decisions were then confirmed by the
full Sabor. The decision to allow the prosecution of Glavas
to continue was nearly unanimous (132 yeas and one
abstention),while the vote to keep Glavas out of detention
was much narrower (81 in favor, 49 against, and three
abstentions). The votes mean that the trial against Glavas
will continue, but that he will no longer be held in
detention, where he has been held for several months due the
court's concerns about possible witness tampering, while the
trial proceeds. The next session of the trial is scheduled
for January 21.


2. (SBU) The Sabor action to block any effort by the courts
to continue Glavas' detention was supported by the main
ruling coalition parties, the HDZ, HSS and HSLS, as well as
Glavas' own HDSSB party and the one right-wing HSP
representative. The Croatian Serb SDSS party, which is part
of the ruling coalition, refused to go along with its
colaition partners, and voted to permit Glavas to stay in
detention. HDZ parliamentarians explained their party's
shift from its position of a year and a half ago, when it had
voted to allow Glavas' detention, by arguing that there were
no longer serious concerns that Glavas would engage in
witness tampering, particularly given his deteriorating
health (brought on by Glavas' repeated hunger strikes
protesting his detention). Other commentators noted that the
HDZ clearly wants to avoid the possibility of Glavas' death
by hunger-strike while in detention making him a martyr,
particularly with local elections looming in a few weeks in
Glavas' political base of Osijek. Upon receiving news of the
vote, Glavas immediately discontinued his hunger strike and
was transferred by ambulance from Zagreb's prison hospital to
a hospital in Osijek.


3. (SBU) Nonetheless, the Sabor's decision to allow Glavas to
remain out of detention has drawn considerable criticism.
Sources in the State Prosectuor's office are quoted in the
press as being very concerned that Glavas will in fact be
more able to coach and/or pressure witnesses in the trial,
and that this could cause serious damage to the prosecution's
case. Other commentators have denounced the apparent
meddling by the Sabor into what should more appropriately be
judicial decisions regarding whether or not Glavas' continued
detention was necessary. The president of the Croatian
Helsinki Committee was quoted as saying the decision could
even threaten a "constitutional crisis."


4. (C) COMMENT: We are reassured to see such an overwhelming
majority of Sabor members accept that the charges against
Glavas are serious enough to merit continued investigation
and prosecution. The seriousness of the case, however, is
all the more reason that this trial must be conducted
effectively and without political interference. While we
cannot judge whether Glavas' continued detention is crucial
to ensuring a proper trial, we doubt that the Sabor can make
such a judgment either, and take seriously the reports of the
prosecutors' concerns about Glavas' ability to influence the
trial if not in detention. It is disappointing that the
Sabor and the government were unwilling to let the decision
about whether Glavas should be detained during trial remain
in the court's hands. END COMMNET.
BRADTKE