ZAGREB, Dec 14 (Hina) - Nine Serb war crimes suspects from the Osijek district prison, who have been on a hunger strike for the third day, do not have any objections to the prison staff, and the prison doctor checks their condition
every day, the Justice Ministry said in a statement Friday. The Ministry reported having received a report by the penalty administration on nine prisoners refusing food. The detainees were visited by the Vukovar County Court vice-president and the judge presiding over their trial. The report says that "appropriate measures were taken immediately", but the nature of the measures is not specified. The ministry announced Assistant Justice Minister Radovan Majski and the head of the penalty administration, Neven Putar, would visit the detainees on Wednesday, December 19. The nine Serbs, indicted for war crimes committed in the Baranja region, started the hunger strike on Wednesday cl
ZAGREB, Dec 14 (Hina) - Nine Serb war crimes suspects from the
Osijek district prison, who have been on a hunger strike for the
third day, do not have any objections to the prison staff, and the
prison doctor checks their condition every day, the Justice
Ministry said in a statement Friday.
The Ministry reported having received a report by the penalty
administration on nine prisoners refusing food.
The detainees were visited by the Vukovar County Court vice-
president and the judge presiding over their trial.
The report says that "appropriate measures were taken
immediately", but the nature of the measures is not specified.
The ministry announced Assistant Justice Minister Radovan Majski
and the head of the penalty administration, Neven Putar, would
visit the detainees on Wednesday, December 19.
The nine Serbs, indicted for war crimes committed in the Baranja
region, started the hunger strike on Wednesday claiming they were
being discriminated against in court proceedings. They complained
about a series of irregularities during the proceedings and said
that injustices were done to them, the Joint Council of (eastern
Croatian predominantly) Serb Municipalities (ZVO) said in a
statement.
The detainees have sent a letter to state institutions,
international organisations and the media wherein they demand that
they be tried in The Hague because they did not trust the Croatian
judiciary.
Among other things stated in the letter, the detainees stress that
Croats who were prosecuted for war crimes and who admitted to
committing several murders defended themselves in freedom or were
granted amnesty, while six Serbs from their group have been in
detention for over a year.
The trial of the Serb detainees started in early September at the
Osijek County Court. Another 52 Serbs, who are on the same
indictment, are at large. The group is charged with armed rebellion
and the persecution of Croats and Hungarians in the Baranja
region.
The trial resumes December 27.
(hina) np