"We have asked the Zagreb County Court to hear four witnesses who we believe could confirm that there are reasonable grounds for suspicion that Jure Kapetanovic falsely reported a crime in connection with contacts he and other people allegedly had with fugitive general Gotovina," Zagreb Municipal Prosecutor Vesna Abramovic told Hina on Thursday.
She declined to give any details of the grounds on which the prosecution had requested a preliminary investigation and the crime Kapetanovic had allegedly falsely reported. She also would not reveal the identities of the four witnesses, citing reasons of their safety.
In mid-January this year Kapetanovic gave a statement to prosecutors, alleging that he had met Gotovina in Bosnia-Herzegovina last November in order to persuade him on behalf of the government to surrender to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, a source close to the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office told Hina on condition of anonymity.
The source said that the prosecutors had found during a preliminary investigation that Kapetanovic had not met Gotovina and that he had not been authorised by the government to negotiate with the general.
Prosecutors believe that Kapetanovic lied when he said that he had been helped by some people to meet Gotovina and that he actually falsely reported that those people knew the general's whereabouts and that they were assisting him in evading justice.
Unofficial sources told Hina that Kapetanovic could also be suspected of giving a false statement.
According to media reports, Kapetanovic used to be flight control chief at Zagreb airport and currently works in the European Air Traffic Agency.