"NOVI LIST" REPORTER RESPONDS TO COUNTY STATE ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

ZAGREB, Feb 25 (Hina) - "The Zagreb County State Attorney Radovan Santek would like very much, in his statement of Tuesday, to deny the authenticity of my claim that documents on crimes committed by Ivo Rojnica have been lying in the State Attorney's Office's drawers for more than half a year, with the Office doing nothing about it", Denis Romac, a reporter with the Rijeka-based daily "Novi list", said on Thursday. Romac stated this in his response to a statement issued last Tuesday by the Zagreb County State Attorney Radovan Santek. Santek's "strong denial" remains mostly wishful thinking, Romac said. In its denial, the State Attorney's Office dismissed information published in "Novi list" saying that documents on the crime of Ivo Rojnica have been lying for more than half a year in the Office's drawers and that the Office has failed to issue a statement on whether they are founded. The State Attorney's Office also described the text as biased, saying it was published without prior checking into the course of the case. The State Attorney's Office also dismissed criticism that it had not issued a statement on the case, adding that statement are made upon formal initiating of criminal proceedings. In his reply, reporter Romac said that the County State Attorney "has confirmed with his response" that the State Attorney's Office had received all materials on Ivo Rojnica as early as July last year but failed to issue a statement on their credibility. "Despite my repeated attempts to find out with competent persons at the State Attorney's Office whether the materials which were handed to the Justice Ministry by Ephraim Zuroff, and then forwarded to the State Attorney's Office, are founded, my requests remained without reply", Romac said adding he had published a text in "Novi list" on the matter in mid July last year. Warning that Santek did not allow the materials to be called evidence, although the court alone was authorised to decide what was evidence, Romac said he wanted to know to which court Santek had entrusted the materials in question. (hina) mm rml