Lawyer Drazen Matijasevic said that today's daily Vecernji List with a front-line "Glavas, however, must be detained" and the daily "Jutarnji List" with "Glavas Implicated in Six Murders" were aimed at exerting pressure on the investigating judge, assessing that this was dangerous for the media.
The lawyer said that yesterday's press release issued from a press conference of the Osijek County Police made no mention of Glavas in the context of the arrest of six former members of a company called in Croatian Samostalna Uskocka Satnija on suspicion of war crimes against Serb civilians in Osijek in late 1991 and early 1992.
Therefore Glavas's defence team describes media articles as "an intended and orchestrated act of pressure by public media on the investigating judge".
Glavas told the news conference that today he will send a letter to all embassies of European Union member states about the fact that on 17 July this year he pressed charges against Krunoslav Fehir for the murder of Serb civilians given that Fehir himself publicly admitted to the crime. In the meantime, the Croatian judiciary accused other people of the crime which made Glavas conclude that both the judiciary and the police were under the political grip.
Glavas went on to say that this must be reported to the EU.
He and Fehir are suspected of having committed war crimes in Osijek in 1991. Glavas is charged with ordering the killing and torture of Serb civilians, specifically that he is responsible for the maltreatment and killing of Cedomir Vuckovic and Djordje Petkovic, whose body has not yet been found, and for the torture of Nikola Vasic and Snezana Beric. Fehir is charged with torturing Vuckovic. Fehir and another soldier allegedly forced Vuckovic to drink battery acid, after which Fehir shot him. Fehir, a former member of the First Osijek Battalion, which was under Glavas's command in 1991, previously admitted having shot a prisoner and had testified about Glavas's alleged involvement in the murders of Serb civilians.