ZADAR, Oct 10 (Hina) - The Croatian State Prosecutor's municipal office in the coastal town of Zadar on Tuesday issued indictments against Josip Nekic, a former head of the local office of the Service for the Protection of the
Constitutional Order (SZUP), and Zeljko Stipic, Croatian Army officer, officially charging them of having being implicated in harbouring Bosnian Croats, suspected of having committed atrocities in the Bosnian central village of Ahmici in 1993. The prime suspect Nekic is also indicted of abusing his office and powers. The State Prosecutor's office in Zadar dismissed charges the police had preferred against another two Zadar citizens - Jeronim Nekic and Goran Petric - also suspected of being involved in harbouring the four men, believed of committing war crimes in Ahmici. All the four Zadar citizens were arrested a month ago. Jeronim Nekic and Goran Petric were
ZADAR, Oct 10 (Hina) - The Croatian State Prosecutor's municipal
office in the coastal town of Zadar on Tuesday issued indictments
against Josip Nekic, a former head of the local office of the
Service for the Protection of the Constitutional Order (SZUP), and
Zeljko Stipic, Croatian Army officer, officially charging them of
having being implicated in harbouring Bosnian Croats, suspected of
having committed atrocities in the Bosnian central village of
Ahmici in 1993.
The prime suspect Nekic is also indicted of abusing his office and
powers.
The State Prosecutor's office in Zadar dismissed charges the police
had preferred against another two Zadar citizens - Jeronim Nekic
and Goran Petric - also suspected of being involved in harbouring
the four men, believed of committing war crimes in Ahmici.
All the four Zadar citizens were arrested a month ago. Jeronim Nekic
and Goran Petric were released after being detained in custody one
week. Josip Nekic was kept in custody for about 15 days, while
Stipic is still being detained.
Bosnian Croat forces killed more than 100 Muslim civilians in the
central Bosnian village of Ahmici in 1993. The international war
crimes tribunal in The Hague (ICTY) sentenced the then commander of
the Croat Defence Council (HVO) operative zone in central Bosnia,
Tihomir Blaskic, to 45 years in prison on the ground of commanding
responsibility but the perpetrators were not caught. Blaskic's
attorneys, who based their defence on the claim that there had been
a parallel commanding system which Blaskic had no knowledge of,
failed to prove their claim.
Following the change of authority in Croatia, documents which
reportedly shed more light on the case were discovered and Croatian
bodies continued the investigation.
They recently discovered that four perpetrators had been hiding in
Zadar under false identities. Two of them were arrested and two
managed to escape. The perpetrators had reportedly been granted new
identities, accommodation and residence permits in Croatia by
Croatian secret services.
(hina) ms