"Increased psychological pressure, to which all residents of Osijek have been exposed, prevents the normal functioning of the city and county authorities," Djapic said.
Djapic stressed that all crimes committed during the Homeland War had to be investigated and individualised, but added that he would like to see the police invest more energy in finding those who were responsible for the death of almost 1,000 Osijek residents in the war. He stated that he had the impression that the ongoing investigations were aimed at changing the defence character of the Homeland War.
Commenting on the invitation by the county chief of police, Vladimir Faber, to war veterans to meet him this afternoon at the police headquarters for an interview about events in Osijek in 1991 and 1992, Djapic said Faber's conduct caused additional anxiety among local war veterans who had the impression that the police were looking for "the weakest link" among them to back "sensationalist headlines in some papers about the events in Osijek in the early 1990s".
Djapic said that most residents of Osijek believed that attempts to discredit local politician Branimir Glavas, who during the war was commander of the city's defence forces, were aimed at discrediting all war veterans and the defence against the Great-Serbian aggression itself.
Leaders of the coordinating body of Homeland War associations from Osijek County today met to discuss Faber's invitation to meet him at the police headquarters for an interview, after which they told the press that the police should investigate drug and crime-related problems in Osijek rather than harass war veterans.
Leaders of four of the 11 associations making up the coordinating body decided to go to the closed-door meeting.
Osijek County prefect Kresimir Bubalo on Thursday issued a statement condemning Faber's invitation.
The prefect said that an increasing number of representatives of local war veterans' associations had been complaining lately about being exposed to pressure and harassment by the county police department and its chief.