The spokesman for the interior ministry, Zlatko Mehun, said on Tuesday that investigations established that the omission had been committed by the registry office employee as well as by the employee in the crime department who failed "to carry out duties from within the scope of their work", and that disciplinary measures would be taken against them.
The public prosecutor in Split decided on 21 October that a warrant for the arrest of five out of eight Lora indictees should be issued and he sent such instructions to the police on the same day. However, the police, situated in a nearby building in downtown Split, opened the letter with the instructions on 25 October and issued warrants for the arrest of the five runaway indictees on 26 October.
Police director Ivica Franjic confirmed last week that an internal investigation was under way in the Split County police department to establish why there was a delay in the issuing of the warrant for the arrest of the indictees.
In a statement for the central news broadcast of the national television, Franjic said that the delay in issuing the arrest warrant could not have had any major effect on the escape of the five indictees.
He said that on October 13 the police informed all police departments and border crossings that a warrant for the arrest of the five indictees had been issued in line with a ruling of the Supreme Court. He dismissed the possibility of anyone in the Split police having helped the runaway indictees.
The ministry's spokesman today confirmed that the police had taken some additional measures even before 26 October to arrest the indictees, which was why it was not possible that somebody in the police helped the indictees to remain at large.
Three of the eight former military police accused of crimes against inmates at Split's Lora military prison in 1992 have been in detention since October 11, while arrest warrants were issued for the other five on October 26. They were acquitted at the first trial at the Split County Court, but the Supreme Court ordered a retrial before a new panel of judges.