ZAGREB, Feb 23 (Hina) - The Zagreb County State Attorney's Office on Tuesday dismissed a headline from the Rijeka-based daily "Novi list" claiming that the State Attorney's Office had documents on crimes committed during World War II
by a Croatian emigrant, Ivo Rojnica, now living in Argentina. D. Romac, the author of the article headlined "Past Sins of the Undestined Ambassador", says: "Documents on the crime of Ivo Rojnica have been lying for more than half a year in the State Attorney's Office drawers, but so far the Office has failed to issue a statement on whether those documents are founded or not". The Zagreb County Attorney's Office issued a statement saying: "The article was published without prior checking of the course of the case, and the critical claim about the (Office's) failure to issue a statement on its work on this case is not valid, because formal statements are made
ZAGREB, Feb 23 (Hina) - The Zagreb County State Attorney's Office on
Tuesday dismissed a headline from the Rijeka-based daily "Novi
list" claiming that the State Attorney's Office had documents on
crimes committed during World War II by a Croatian emigrant, Ivo
Rojnica, now living in Argentina.
D. Romac, the author of the article headlined "Past Sins of the
Undestined Ambassador", says: "Documents on the crime of Ivo
Rojnica have been lying for more than half a year in the State
Attorney's Office drawers, but so far the Office has failed to issue
a statement on whether those documents are founded or not".
The Zagreb County Attorney's Office issued a statement saying: "The
article was published without prior checking of the course of the
case, and the critical claim about the (Office's) failure to issue a
statement on its work on this case is not valid, because formal
statements are made upon the formal initiating of criminal
proceeding before the court, in line with the constitutional
principles on civil rights".
The State Attorney's Office further said that on January 4, 1999, it
received from the Croatian Justice Ministry a copy of the list of
the commission of the former Republic of Croatia for establishing
crimes committed by the occupying forces and their collaborators
during World War II, including the name of Ivo Rojnica.
The Office further states that on January 8, it requested the
Interior Ministry to establish the authenticity of claims made by
the commission of the former Republic of Croatia for establishing
crimes committed during World War II. The Office also requested the
Croatian State Archives to issue all documents concerning events
that happened in the Dubrovnik area. The State Archives sent part of
the documentation as early as February 15, and the documents are
being processed by the State Attorney's Office.
The Office described the "Novi list" headline as biased, because it
spoke of "documents on crimes" as if Rojnica's war crimes had
already been confirmed. This has very negative consequences for the
objective informing of the public, the Office said.
The already mentioned list ("Decision") of the commission of the
former Republic of Croatia for establishing war crimes is not
evidence in itself. Statements from the Decision should be checked
so that their credibility is established, within proceedings which
are in accordance with the Law on Criminal Proceedings.
"Since we believe that this false and unprofessional form of
reporting spreads distrust in the work of this state organ and
creates a false impression that there is no wish to prosecute World
War II criminals, we are stressing that the State Attorney's Office
is acting exclusively in line with the principle of lawfulness and
is obliged to act upon receiving any material which might indicate
that a criminal act had been committed, which is what we did in this
very case as well", said the statement by the Zagreb County State
Attorney's Office, signed by State Attorney Radovan Santek.
(hina) jn rml