Investigation was suspended in case of 1,381 persons for lack of evidence, the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor said in a report published on its web site on Wednesday. The report was sent to the association of disabled war veterans HVIDRA, which four days ago called for replacing Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic for failing to submit data on the number of persons prosecuted for involvement in the war against Croatia.
Although the requested information was received today, HVIDRA insists on its demand that Bajic be replaced and that independent MP Branimir Glavas and other indictees in the so-called Sellotape case be allowed to defend themselves without being placed in custody, HVIDRA president Josip Djakic told Hina.
Dajkic went on to say that it was questionable why some war crimes suspects were not being placed in custody, while Croatian soldiers were being detained pending final verdict.
Although Djakic admitted that this was not up to the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor, but trial chambers, he said the prosecution often insisted on war crimes suspects being kept in custody due to possible tampering with witnesses.
In April HVIDRA requested a report on war crimes proceedings launched against persons who took part in the war against Croatia, dissatisfied with the fact that Croatian soldiers were being criticised in the media for crimes against civilians, while Croatian victims were being ignored.
After it did not receive any answer, HVIDRA requested Bajic's replacement.
The Office of the Chief State Prosecutor said that HVIDRA's request was received only on May 7, dismissing media reports that it had granted amnesty to 17,000 war crimes suspects and explaining that the General Amnesty Act could not and was not applied to war crimes suspects.
The prosecution said in its answer to HVIDRA that it did not have complete data on the ethnic background of persons prosecuted for war crimes, because such information was not always available and was established only during their questioning.