OSIJEK COUNTY COURT OSIJEK, Jan 16 (Hina) - Canadian investigators on Tuesday met with county judicial officials in the eastern Croatian town of Osijek to discuss the case of Josip Budimcic, whom the Osijek County Court in 1996
sentenced in absentia for war crimes. Budimcic now lives in Canada and has applied for Canadian citizenship. Four Canadian investigators have asked for discretion, investigating judge Dragan Simenic, who conducted the proceedings against Budimcic, told Hina. The investigators arrived in Osijek following an agreement with the Croatian Justice Ministry and with the consent of local authorities. The investigators today questioned two witnesses who were in a group of Croatian soldiers, members of the 3rd Guard Brigade, who, along with ten other persons, were subjected to physical and mental abuse after their surrender in August 1991. Two of 12 prisoners of war were killed on the spot, five were taken to
OSIJEK, Jan 16 (Hina) - Canadian investigators on Tuesday met with
county judicial officials in the eastern Croatian town of Osijek to
discuss the case of Josip Budimcic, whom the Osijek County Court in
1996 sentenced in absentia for war crimes. Budimcic now lives in
Canada and has applied for Canadian citizenship.
Four Canadian investigators have asked for discretion,
investigating judge Dragan Simenic, who conducted the proceedings
against Budimcic, told Hina. The investigators arrived in Osijek
following an agreement with the Croatian Justice Ministry and with
the consent of local authorities.
The investigators today questioned two witnesses who were in a
group of Croatian soldiers, members of the 3rd Guard Brigade, who,
along with ten other persons, were subjected to physical and mental
abuse after their surrender in August 1991.
Two of 12 prisoners of war were killed on the spot, five were taken
to Tenja, a village near Osijek, where they disappeared without
trace. The bodies of four of them were recently exhumed in Marinci,
another eastern Croatian village, and one is still held missing.
Witness Ivan Radic, who was in the prisoner group, said he would
tell the investigators what he had already said during the trial,
namely that "Budimcic, a Croat from Bizovac, married to a Serb
woman, committed crimes and must answer for them." Two years ago
Hague investigators questioned us about that, he said.
Agreeing with Radic, another witness, Miroslav Hegoz, said it was
not easy for him to remember the horrors of war.
In 1996, the Osijek County Court reached a final verdict in the
Budimcic case, sentencing him to 15 years in prison for war crimes
against prisoners of war and violations of the Geneva Convention.
Budimcic resided in the Croatian Danube River region until 1995,
where he worked as a mechanic with Canadian U.N. units. He emigrated
to Canada in 1995 and in 1997 applied for Canadian citizenship.
Due to certain suspicions, the Canadian state requested an
investigation against Budimcic.
The Canadian investigators will question another two witnesses at
the Osijek County Court tomorrow.
(hina) sb rml