"It is beyond doubt that all persons awaiting trial for war crimes should be taken into custody after they are indicted. However, the few indictees who have been taken into custody bear proof to the lack of a uniform judicial practice," a member of the HHO Executive Committee, Veljko Miljevic, said on Friday.
He cited the example of independent MP Branimir Glavas, charged with war crimes, who was taken into custody before the issuing of the indictment, and the example of General Rahim Ademi, who is standing trial for similar crimes without having been taken into custody.
Miljevic believes that such court practices are due to the vague wording of the provision of the Law on Criminal Procedure which states that one of the reasons for ruling detention are "particularly difficult circumstances of the criminal act".
The exact meaning of this phrase needs to be clarified and it should be indicated if it entails mandatory or optional detention, Miljevic said.
He believes that the provision envisaging detention for particularly grave crimes is contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights, which, under the Croatian Constitution, is above the national legislation.
Under the European Convention on Human Rights, a person can be taken into custody only for the purpose of preventing him/her from escaping and repeating the crime, and for the purpose of bringing him/her before the competent legal authority.
The Croatian Constitution too describes detention as the most serious measure of depriving someone of freedom, intended exclusively to facilitate criminal proceedings, which is why it should not be perceived as punishment, Miljevic said.
He recalled that the same position was stated in reports by the human rights ombudsman and in several rulings of Constitutional Court judges.