OSIJEK COUNTY DEPUTY PREFECT ON WAR CRIMES CHARGES OSIJEK, Nov 8 (Hina) - Bosko Jancic, a former deputy prefect of Osijek County, was arrested and taken to the Osijek County Prison on Tuesday on suspicion of having committed war
crimes against the civilian population in the eastern Baranja region during the Homeland War. A judge at the Osijek County Court, Dragan Poljak, said Jancic and four other persons, who fled to Yugoslavia, were charged with having ordered, as high-ranked members of the Serb army and territorial defence, the shelling of mostly civilian targets in the Osijek area between August 18, 1991 and May 18, 1992, causing the death and injuring of a number of civilians and the destruction and damaging of several thousand facilities. Jancic was elected to the post of county deputy prefect as a member of the Serb ethnic community after the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube River region and held the post from April 21, 1999 t
OSIJEK, Nov 8 (Hina) - Bosko Jancic, a former deputy prefect of
Osijek County, was arrested and taken to the Osijek County Prison on
Tuesday on suspicion of having committed war crimes against the
civilian population in the eastern Baranja region during the
Homeland War.
A judge at the Osijek County Court, Dragan Poljak, said Jancic and
four other persons, who fled to Yugoslavia, were charged with
having ordered, as high-ranked members of the Serb army and
territorial defence, the shelling of mostly civilian targets in the
Osijek area between August 18, 1991 and May 18, 1992, causing the
death and injuring of a number of civilians and the destruction and
damaging of several thousand facilities.
Jancic was elected to the post of county deputy prefect as a member
of the Serb ethnic community after the peaceful reintegration of
the Croatian Danube River region and held the post from April 21,
1999 to June 16, 2000.
According to information from the Osijek County Court, an
investigation request was issued against Jancic in 1992, and was
soon followed by an arrest warrant, as Jancic was out of the reach of
Croatian police, having lived at the time in the formerly occupied
Baranja region. Jancic was within the reach of the Croatian
judiciary the entire time from the completion of the peaceful
reintegration to his arrest on Tuesday. The investigation against
him was completed in 1994.
Asked how it was possible that Jancic was arrested only now despite
the arrest warrant and criminal charges, officials at the County
Court said the Court and the County Prosecution had done their part
of the job and that police were in charge of arresting people on
arrest warrants.
MP Branimir Glavas, Osijek County Prefect at the time Jancic was
Deputy Prefect, said in a statement today that by carrying out
arrests on a daily basis and intimidating the public, the ruling
coalition was intentionally redirecting public attention to
unimportant issues.
By arresting apolitical people of Serb nationality, the
authorities are trying to create an illusion of balance ahead of a
new, "politically motivated campaign of prosecution of Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ) officials," said Glavas, adding Jancic had
not been involved in politics during the Homeland War but was a
businessman. He added he could say only positive things about
Jancic.
(hina) rml