ZAGREB, Nov 18 (Hina) - The information that 249 war crimes proceedings have been discontinued, as recently stated by Croatia's justice minister, was already noted in the report on last year's performance of the State Prosecutor's
Office, this body said on Tuesday.
ZAGREB, Nov 18 (Hina) - The information that 249 war crimes
proceedings have been discontinued, as recently stated by
Croatia's justice minister, was already noted in the report on last
year's performance of the State Prosecutor's Office, this body said
on Tuesday. #L#
Justice Minister Ingrid Anticevic-Marinovic made the statement
while visiting Belgrade yesterday, while the report on the work of
the State Prosecutor's Office in 2002 was endorsed by parliament in
October.
The State Prosecutor's Office does not keep track of trials
according to defendants' ethnic origin. The Croatian Helsinki
Committee on Human Rights says the majority of investigations and
indictments for war crimes refer to Croatian Serb citizens.
Of a total of 3,181 war crimes proceedings launched over the past 12
years, 893 were discontinued due to the application of the Amnesty
Law in the mid-1990s.
Investigations of 249 war crimes suspects were discontinued last
year and of 65 in 2001, reads the State Prosecutor's Office report.
An instruction the chief state prosecutor, Mladen Bajic, issued to
county state prosecutor's offices in 2001 read that all prosecuted
cases should be re-examined in cooperation with the police.
The State Prosecutor's Office maintains that during and
immediately after the Homeland War, investigations were easily
launched on the basis of improperly filed reports and that
indictments were filed on the basis of insufficient evidence.
Bajic also instructed county state prosecutor's offices not to
initiate trials if the defendant was absent, except in
"extraordinary situations" and then only with his approval.
If a defendant is sentenced in absentia but is later arrested, the
trial "is virtually always repeated," which is why trials in
absentia constitute "an unnecessary waste of time and money," read
the report.
In more than 3,000 proceedings that have been launched
investigations are ongoing in 459, while they were discontinued in
457. Over the past decade 1,373 people were accused of war crimes,
595 were convicted, 548 have yet to be sentenced, while 230 were
acquitted.
(hina) ha sb