OFFICIAL: ZAGREB PROSECUTION EXPOSED TO SPECIAL MEDIA WARFARE

ZAGREB, June 10 (Hina) - The Zagreb County Prosecution on Monday warned that for the past year and a half some attorneys in the trial of the so-called Zagreb criminal organisation and the weekly "Nacional" had been making false and ill-intentioned claims about the alleged illegal activities of the prosecutor in the case. #L# The head of the Zagreb County Prosecution's organised crime sector, Dunja Pavlicek Patak, who is the prosecutor in the trial of the criminal organisation, told reporters that the defence and Nacional reporters were hampering the work of the prosecution in the case. "This is a very dangerous social phenomenon, which causes citizens' distrust in the institution of the state prosecution and provoke the feeling of legal insecurity," she said. She also stated that the media had been slandering the County Prosecution with the aim of helping the defendants and depicting them as innocent victims of dishonourable prosecutors. Explaining her claim, Pavlicek Patak said Nacional claimed that the County Prosecution had prevented the prosecution of the so-called mob clan headed by the late Vjeko Slisko and seen as the rival clan of Nikica Jelavic's clan, which is standing trial at Zagreb's Remetinec prison, and directly co-operated with Slisko's clan, talking them into perjury and planting evidence. Slisko, believed to be one of Zagreb underground bosses, was shot dead in a Zagreb square in broad daylight a year ago. She said Jelavic's clan was arrested without any previous agreement with the Prosecutor's Office and exclusively in line with an independent police decision, as well as that she learned of it after the apprehension started, at which time she was obliged to decide about an investigation request within 48 hours. "If the other group had been arrested, the same procedure would have been applied to it as well," she said. She added that the Prosecutor's Office had suggested that the investigating judge in the case initiate special investigative activities against supposed members of Slisko's clan, but they did not yield any results. She dismissed as untruths claims made by Nacional saying she talked witnesses into saying they had contacts with Slisko, handing over confidential materials (transcripts, cassettes). She also dismissed Nacional's claims that the Prosecutor's Office was in collusion with Slisko's clan. Pavlicek Patak said the weekly had accused her of trying to prevent the search of Slisko's apartment and of delivering him various confidential documents in exchange for the place of a legal advisor in his firm. She also dismissed as ill-intentioned and unsubstantiated claims by attorneys Rajko Mlinaric and Anto Nobilo who said that she was hiding the actual murderers so that she would not have to revise the indictment against the so-called criminal organisation. She accused Nacional reporters of making unfounded conclusions that members of the "criminal organisation" were intentionally charged with murders committed by Slisko's men. Jasna Babic, Nacional reporter and author of most of the contentious articles, asked Zagreb County Prosecutor Krunoslav Canjuga which measures would be taken against Pavlicek Patak if the media claims proved true. Canjuga answered that the Prosecution was open to all facts, but he declined to speak about consequences until all allegations were proved. He called on Babic and other reporters to provide evidence for their claims. Asked if she would sue Nacional, Pavlicek Patak said she would not because she would go bankrupt if she sued reporters for every article. "Their pressure is aimed at diverting the prosecution's attention from the trial," she said. (hina) rml