ZAGREB, Nov 28 (Hina) - The Socialist Workers' Party (SRP) leader and editor-in-chief of the party's Croatian Left paper, Stipe Suvar, has told reporters that after forcing the paper to pay him 85,000 kuna of damages for the mental
anguish the paper caused him with its articles, Ivan Bobetko is again suing the paper, seeking damages of 50,000 kuna.
ZAGREB, Nov 28 (Hina) - The Socialist Workers' Party (SRP) leader
and editor-in-chief of the party's Croatian Left paper, Stipe
Suvar, has told reporters that after forcing the paper to pay him
85,000 kuna of damages for the mental anguish the paper caused him
with its articles, Ivan Bobetko is again suing the paper, seeking
damages of 50,000 kuna. #L#
In July this year the paper published a file called "Crimes in
Sisak", which included a list with the names of 107 civilians,
mostly Sisak Serbs, who it claimed had been killed in 1991.
The paper claimed that Ivan Bobetko, at the time the commander of
the crisis headquarters for Banija, Moslavina and Posavina, was one
of the people responsible for the crimes.
After the file was published, Bobetko sued the paper, and the
ensuing proceedings resulted in its having to pay Bobetko 85,000
kuna for mental anguish, Suvar said.
He added that Bobetko requested the paper in October this year to
apologise to him in public for "the false, insulting and vulgar
information" connected with his name, which caused damage to his
dignity, honour and reputation, "inflicting anguish on him".
Since the paper failed to apologise, because it did not consider it
necessary, on October 12 Bobetko sent it a warning pending lawsuit
and a claim for the payment of another 50,000 kuna of damages, Suvar
said.
He admitted that the list with the names of 107 people did contain
some false information and that it had been established
subsequently that "two-three people from the list are alive".
However, he also mentioned the case of three victims who had not
been listed.
The perpetrators of most of the crimes can be found and put on trial,
but chances of that happening grow slimmer every day due to the
current situation in Sisak and Sisak's Ironworks, Suvar said.
Ivan Bobetko is the son of retired Croatian general Janko Bobetko,
who has been indicted for war crimes by the UN war crimes tribunal at
The Hague.
(hina) rml sb