"Police know that my client has had work and residence permits in Austria for seven years and that he is not at large, but are persistently misinforming the public by claiming the opposite," Krsnik told Hina.
"Retired general Zagorec has always responded to police requests, but after the latest show with the arrest warrant, my client will seek help and protection from countries with which he has cooperated well so far," Krsnik said. The attorney did not explain what this meant, nor would he say if Zagorec would attend a court hearing scheduled for March 9 to be interviewed by Zagreb County Court Judge Erna Drazancic.
Krsnik said that he was not familiar with the investigation request of the Zagreb County Prosecutor's Office which also sought taking Zagorec into custody, but claimed that the request was based on a false testimony by Snjezana Siprah, Zagorec's former secretary.
In her testimony at last year's trial of businessman Hrvoje Petrac and others charged with the kidnapping of Zagorec's son, Siprah said that Zagorec had received from German arms dealer Josef Rothaichner two bags with jewels, which he took from a safe at the Defence Ministry when he was relieved of duty in 2000.
Krsnik said that the arms dealer had recently given a statement to Swiss authorities denying all allegations, and that Croatian police were familiar with that.
Commenting on Krsnik's claims, the spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior, Zlatko Mehun, said that Zagorec's attorney had known about the intention of police to interview his client.
"Police looked for Zagorec at his Zagreb address on two occasions, but to no avail, and nobody told us that he would not be there," Mehun said, adding that if Zagorec appeared at any of the border crossings, police would do all to bring him in to give a statement.