The claim by the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party that the order for detention based on the gravity of the crimes should be rejected on account of uneven judicial practice, received support from the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) and Glavas's HDSSB, while the Croatian People's Party (HNS), the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS), the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) and regional parties insisted that Parliament should not restrict the activity of judicial authorities.
HNS leader Vesna Pusic said she was "shocked by the HDZ's Copernican revolution today," explaining that the HDZ's majority on the Credentials and Privileges Commission (MIP) had approved the requests by Zagreb County Court investigating judge and county prosecutors in Zagreb and Osijek to remand Glavas in custody.
"No one has disputed that the most horrible cases of torture and murder occurred. The scale of the crimes is beyond question, and whether Glavas is guilty or not will be decided by the court," Pusic said, appealing to the deputies not to engage in the discussion on whether state prosecutors had the right to decide on the gravity of the crimes in question.
SDP deputy Josip Leko said his party would support the MIP's decisions, adding that the court had enough knowledge and ability to ensure a fair trial.
"This is a collapse of Croatian politics, which can be taken to mean that the government is not strong enough to cope with the issue of legal security," Ivo Banac said, announcing the support of the regional parties for the MIP's decisions.
Damir Kajin of the IDS said it was not true that the Glavas case was politically motivated, adding that in his opinion the case had been referred to Croatia from the Hague war crimes tribunal to test the credibility of the Croatian government and the independence of the Croatian justice system.
Milorad Pupovac said that the SDSS would not vote on the MIP's decisions because the party believed that the case should be left to the judiciary rather than to "political calculations".
The Peasant Party (HSS) said its deputies would not vote on Glavas's immunity either, with Zeljko Pecek saying that they "don't have the necessary information on the basis of which they would vote."
HSP leader Anto Djapic said that his party would support the HDZ's proposal that Parliament should approve Glavas's detention only on grounds that he might exert his influence on witnesses, insisting that in the future similar cases should be discussed only at the request of courts and not at the request of prosecutors.
"The minimum we can do for a deputy who has sat in Parliament for five terms and who is a Croatian Army general is to allow him to prove his innocence while at liberty," Djapic said.