SARAJEVO, Dec 27 (Hina) - The real motive which made 25-year-old Muamer Topalovic kill three members of the Andjelovic family from the Herzegovina village of Kostajnica are yet to be established in investigative proceedings, the
interior minister of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ramo Maslesa, told reporters in Sarajevo on Friday.
SARAJEVO, Dec 27 (Hina) - The real motive which made 25-year-old
Muamer Topalovic kill three members of the Andjelovic family from
the Herzegovina village of Kostajnica are yet to be established in
investigative proceedings, the interior minister of the Federation
of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ramo Maslesa, told reporters in Sarajevo on
Friday. #L#
Maslesa said that the most important fact in the case was the police
having identified and discovered the perpetrator in less than 20
hours after the murder.
"I speak the language of the profession, not politics," Maslesa
said, commenting on claims that Topalovic himself stated that his
motive was religious and inter-ethnic hatred.
Commenting on his previous statement that the crime was not
motivated by inter-ethnic hatred, Maslesa said his statement had
been based on facts which were available immediately after the
crime.
The murder in the village of Kostajnica near Konjic was condemned
unanimously in all Bosnian media, although assessments about its
possible consequences vary.
Sarajevo's "Oslobodjenje" daily reports that Croat returnees in
the area of Konjic are frightened and that many of them are planning
to leave.
"Dnevni avaz" places emphasis on assurances by international and
local officials and High Representative Paddy Ashdown, who claim
that the brutal murder would not stop the process of return.
The "Slobodna Bosna" weekly and Banja Luka's "Nezavisne novine"
have drawn the most radical conclusions.
Slobodna Bosna editor Senad Avdic says in his commentary the murder
is a logical result of the situation in the country following the
return of national parties to power. Reminding that during the
previous rule of national parties none of the people who had killed
returnees spent a day in prison, Avdic concludes that the latest
events and the return to power of the three national parties could
have only encouraged the perpetrator.
A commentary in "Nezavisne novine" notes that the crime, which
occurred soon after the elections, brings into question Ashdown's
claims that the return to power of national parties is not a serious
problem. The paper warns that the murder of the three Croats has
actually destroyed the already fragile trust among people and that
Topalovic's act leads to the conclusion that the country has
experienced a setback to the time of seven years ago.
(hina) rml