CROATIAN MP BRANIMIR GLAVAS AND CO-DEFENDANTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000254

SIPDIS

FOR S/WCI AND EUR/SCE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/01/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KAWC HR
SUBJECT: CROATIAN MP BRANIMIR GLAVAS AND CO-DEFENDANTS
FOUND GUILTY OF WAR CRIMES

Classified By: Rick Holtzapple, PolEcon Counselor, for reasons 1.4 (b)
& (d).


1. (U) The Zagreb County Court on May 8 found Croatian MP
Branimir Glavas and his five co-defendants guilty of war
crimes for the killings of over a dozen ethnic Serb civilians
in 1991 in the eastern Croatian city of Osijek. Glavas
received a sentence of ten years, while his co-defendants
received sentences of between five and eight years. The
court found that Glavas formed and held full control over
secret paramilitary units in Osijek that then engaged in war
crimes. The presiding judge said he took into account as
extenuating circumstances in the sentencing the fact that
Osijek was under attack at the time of the killings, and that
all of the convicted had played a major role in the defense
of the city. Embassy officers who attended the hearing
report that the courtroom procedure was orderly, and there
were no significant protests at the court.


2. (U) Under Croatian law, all the defendants should
immediately be held in detention while appeals of this
initial ruling are heard. Four of the defendants who were in
court were put directly into detention. Glavas and one other
defendant, however, were not in court and Glavas holds
immunity from detention as a member of parliament. The
presiding judge said he would immediately send a request to
the parliament, asking it to lift Glavas' immunity.
According to press reports, the president of Glavas' HDSSB
political party, Vladimir Sisljagic has announced that
Glavas' conviction was brought "on orders from Prime Minister
Sanader" and that Glavas is now "in a safe location."


3. (C) Prime Minister Sanader, who was hosting a lunch for
Ambassador Bradtke and several European diplomats at the
moment the verdict was announced, looked somewhat taken aback
when he heard of the verdict and told his guests that Glavas'
sentence was longer than he or the Minister of Justice had
expected. The Ambassador asked Sanader what the government
and parliament would do about allowing Glavas to be held in
dentention, and noted that his decision would be watched with
interest in Washington and other capitals. Sanader replied,
in front of the group of lunch guests that he was aware of
the international interest in the case, but that he did not
yet know what the government and Sabor would decide to do.
He noted that first the judge needed to transmit his request
to have immunity lifted. Sanader said he also wanted to see
what the public reaction would be in Osijek, where a large
public gathering was planned for this evening, and that he
wanted to consult with Sabor VP Vladimir Seks, (who is also
from Osijek, a former close ally of Glavas, and one of the
HDZ's leading legal experts). In a short, private
conversation at the end of the lunch, the Ambassador told the
PM that it would be very important to lift Glavas' immunity,
and see him put in detention along with the other convicted
individuals. Sanader replied, "Yes, I know, we have to do
it."


4. (C) COMMENT: Sanader appears genuinely surprised at the
length of the sentence, and worried about the potential
political backlash from any decision to stick Glavas back in
jail (Glavas was released from an earlier period of detention
in January 2008, when he won re-election to the Sabor). With
the Sabor on recess again next week during the final week of
campaigning for local elections, any parliamentary decision
would require another extraordinary session to act on the
judge's request immediately. Sanader and the HDZ may well be
tempted to play for time and try to deal with this after next
Sunday's vote. END COMMENT.
BRADTKE