ZAGREB, Sept 30 (Hina) - In the past ten years the Zagreb County Court has received nine criminal charges for crimes committee by partisans in WWII, mostly against unknown perpetrators. "All the charges are being checked out, but so
far there are no elements on the basis of which enquiries would be initiated," deputy county prosecutor, Ivica Ovcar, told Hina. Charges for war crimes committed in Word War II, primarily those committed by partisans, has been announced in the past week by the government. Ovcar, in charge of cases dating back to WWII, has said gathering of direct evidence was the biggest problem he faced. "Because of the time that has passed, the number of live direct witnesses are decreasing, and those who know something about the events during and after the war are witnesses who have heard something from third parties," he said. Lacking concrete evidence, the county prosecution has to
ZAGREB, Sept 30 (Hina) - In the past ten years the Zagreb County
Court has received nine criminal charges for crimes committee by
partisans in WWII, mostly against unknown perpetrators.
"All the charges are being checked out, but so far there are no
elements on the basis of which enquiries would be initiated,"
deputy county prosecutor, Ivica Ovcar, told Hina.
Charges for war crimes committed in Word War II, primarily those
committed by partisans, has been announced in the past week by the
government.
Ovcar, in charge of cases dating back to WWII, has said gathering of
direct evidence was the biggest problem he faced.
"Because of the time that has passed, the number of live direct
witnesses are decreasing, and those who know something about the
events during and after the war are witnesses who have heard
something from third parties," he said.
Lacking concrete evidence, the county prosecution has to date no
founded suspicion to go on for seeking a court enquiry in any of the
filed cases, Ovcar said.
A special department at the office for war crimes should assist in
discovering the perpetrators of WWII crimes, the State Prosecution
has announced.
Only in one case out of the nine filed, the names of perpetrators of
war crimes have been issued.
The case, entitled Hrvatski domobran (Croatian homeland defender),
cites the names of Rade Bulat, Marko Belinic, Lutva Ahmetovic and
Milka Kufrin, who are charged with war crimes against prisoners of
war in January 1943.
At least 218 prisoners, homeland defenders and Ustasha, were
killed.
"They had been convicted and read death penalties in Sosice and
Samobor. We are currently searching for the verdicts," Ovcar said.
A part of the charges in which Bulat and Kufrin are charged with
killing a mailman, Dragutin Oslakovic, in 1942, has been processed.
The available documents and archived files show, however, that they
could not have committed the crime at the time, as they were nowhere
close to the location of the crime, Ovcar said.
In 1990, charges were filed against an unknown perpetrator of
crimes in Jazovka.
Twenty-two witnesses were heard last year, but, according to Ovcar,
none of the witnesses gave any significant information which could
be used in solving the case.
The same is with the charges for crimes in Bleiburg for which the
State Prosecution unsuccessfully requested more detailed
information from Slovenian authorities.
The Croatian parliament's commission for war and post-war victims
in 1992 filed charges against unknown perpetrators of crimes in the
Macelj forest.
The charges claim that about 2,500 homeland defence soldiers, 200
Ustasha and 1,500 German soldiers were killed in the forest. They
claim that a total of 20,000 people were killed in various
concentration camps in the vicinity.
"Some witnesses were heard, but none of them knows which partisan
troops were in the area," Ovcar said.
In 1995, the commission filed charges against unknown perpetrators
for crimes in Veliko Trgovisce, where, the commission said,
partisans had killed 122 people in May of 1945. The charges do not
state whether the victims were civilians or soldiers.
After the discovery of several human skeletons, in 1990 charges
were filed for crimes in Sestine. According to Ovcar, the
investigative judge investigated the location, and a witness was
heard. He claimed that he personally buried 23 civilians and 27
German soldiers there, but was not sure which partisan unit was in
the area at the time.
The Zagreb County Prosecution received charges for all partisan
crimes committed from 1941 to 1946. The Committee for Croatian
Truth and Justice filed the charges two years ago.
The last case to have crossed Ovcar's desk was the one from 1999,
pertaining to the discovery of two human skeletons in the village of
Bedici.
The case is presumed to be connected to a war crime as, according to
the statements of two witnesses, there were people killed in the
area after Zagreb was liberated in 1945.
(hina) lml