ZAGREB, Nov 22 (Hina) - Commenting on a decision by the Amnesty Commission to reduce the prison sentences of a two-time murderer Mario Zarkovic and his father Ante, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic on Thursday said "there is no
misunderstanding, there are only people who pretend they do not understand what is going on." "The Amnesty Commission is not a judicial body, nor does it consider the same elements as the court - the committed act, evidence and extenuating or aggravating circumstances," Mesic, who chairs the commission, told journalists at a ceremony marking the 155th anniversary of the "Sestre Milosrdnice" clinical hospital. When a verdict becomes final, and the accused is sent to prison to serve the sentence, certain circumstances appear and these circumstances are considered by the Commission, which suggests a reduction of the sentence, its being changed into a suspended sentence, or the release
ZAGREB, Nov 22 (Hina) - Commenting on a decision by the Amnesty
Commission to reduce the prison sentences of a two-time murderer
Mario Zarkovic and his father Ante, Croatian President Stjepan
Mesic on Thursday said "there is no misunderstanding, there are
only people who pretend they do not understand what is going on."
"The Amnesty Commission is not a judicial body, nor does it consider
the same elements as the court - the committed act, evidence and
extenuating or aggravating circumstances," Mesic, who chairs the
commission, told journalists at a ceremony marking the 155th
anniversary of the "Sestre Milosrdnice" clinical hospital.
When a verdict becomes final, and the accused is sent to prison to
serve the sentence, certain circumstances appear and these
circumstances are considered by the Commission, which suggests a
reduction of the sentence, its being changed into a suspended
sentence, or the release of the prisoner.
"The law is clear, but some are entrusted with causing affairs and
they are causing them persistently," said Mesic and added that "all
this starts at a court in Split, and who is connected with the court
can be seen from newspaper articles and their headlines."
The Croatian media recently reported, based on information from the
Split County Court and the County Prosecutor's Office, that the
President's Amnesty Commission had reduced Mario Zarkovic's 12-
year prison sentence by two years. Zarkovic was sentenced to prison
in 1992 for killing a member of the "Tigrovi" military unit, Nenad
Devcic. The Commission also reduced the sentence of Zarkovic's
father Ante, who was convicted to four years in prison for
instigating the murder.
Zarkovic had been previously sentenced to six years in prison for
beating to death a Czech tourist as a minor in 1986.
(hina) np sb