Ljajic told reporters after the visit that he talked to some 40 inmates who he said were not objecting to prison conditions, but to the slow pace of talks on their transfer to prisons in Serbia and Montenegro.
"We have informed them of the talks that we held and that we will hold in Belgrade and Zagreb, including the transfer of the first group of inmates. We cannot state the number of inmates to be transferred nor the dynamics of their transfer, because it is a complicated procedure... Nobody can say with certainty when they will be transferred," Ljajic said.
He added that the purpose of his visit was to help create a political atmosphere to transfer the inmates respecting all relevant legislation. "Courts in Serbia and Montenegro must confirm their sentences, that is, pass sentences that will be equal to those they received in Croatia".
Croatia's Assistant Justice Minister and head of the department for the prison system, Ivan Damjanovic, said that the Serb inmates would not be put on trial again in Serbia and Montenegro but that courts in that country would only have to make a decision on confirming the sentences of the country where they were convicted.
"The date of the transfer has not been set, that was not discussed, but we expect the first transfer soon," Damjanovic said.
Dissatisfied with the failure to meet their request for transfer to prisons in Serbia and Montenegro, 26 citizens of Serbia and Montenegro serving sentences for war crimes at the Lepoglava prison started refusing prison meals last Saturday.
Justice Minister Vesna Skare Ozbolt said at the time that the inmates were not on a hunger strike, but were refusing to eat prison meals and were buying food at the prison canteen instead.