ZAGREB, Sept 20 (Hina) - The family of a man beaten to death four years ago by two members of Croatia's Service for the Protection of the Constitutional Order (SZUP) expects the two culprits will be given the same sentence at a new
trial to be held later this month, family attorney Anto Nobilo told reporters in Zagreb on Monday. The retrial of Sefik Mujkic, beaten to death on suspicion that he had been engaged in espionage, will be held in Slavonski Brod, eastern Croatia, on September 23 and 14, and will be followed by Amnesty International, the Croatian Helsinki Committee, and the Croatian Legal Centre. SZUP members Zlatko Plazibat and Miroslav Tarnaj on September 15, 1995 beat Mujkic to death at the Slavonski Brod police station where he was brought after being arrested on the basis of documents seized in Okucani and on suspicion that he had been engaged in military espionage for the Serb side. Nobilo s
ZAGREB, Sept 20 (Hina) - The family of a man beaten to death four
years ago by two members of Croatia's Service for the Protection of
the Constitutional Order (SZUP) expects the two culprits will be
given the same sentence at a new trial to be held later this month,
family attorney Anto Nobilo told reporters in Zagreb on Monday.
The retrial of Sefik Mujkic, beaten to death on suspicion that he
had been engaged in espionage, will be held in Slavonski Brod,
eastern Croatia, on September 23 and 14, and will be followed by
Amnesty International, the Croatian Helsinki Committee, and the
Croatian Legal Centre.
SZUP members Zlatko Plazibat and Miroslav Tarnaj on September 15,
1995 beat Mujkic to death at the Slavonski Brod police station where
he was brought after being arrested on the basis of documents seized
in Okucani and on suspicion that he had been engaged in military
espionage for the Serb side.
Nobilo said the Interior Ministry initially tried to hush up the
case, claiming it had been an instance of necessary defence. A trial
was eventually held and the two defendants were sentenced to five
and a half years in prison in Pozega in May 1996.
The victim's brother, Rasid Mujkic, told the press today the family
had expected a severer sentence.
Immediately after the ruling was made, then Supreme Court president
Krunoslav Olujic was called by then intelligence service chief
Smiljan Reljic, who demanded that the ruling be revoked. Nobilo
said the publication of this information had been okayed by the
president of the Supreme Court. At the defendants' appeal, which
had been supported by the State Attorney's Office, the Supreme
Court showed "commendable promptness" and on October 3 revoked the
ruling, Nobilo said.
The Mujkic family in the meantime forwarded the case to The Hague.
The Hague Tribunal's prosecution was interested and invited the
family for talks for which, Nobilo said, the family is not
interested at present because "they believe in the Croatian
judiciary."
"This is a test for the Croatian judiciary on the one hand, and for
the Republic of Croatia on the other, and a test of the authenticity
of the statements made by both (Croatian Justice) Minister
Separovic and other officials, who said there had been criminal
acts on the margins of 'Storm' which the Croatian judiciary was
processing," said Nobilo.
The killed Mujkic left behind a wife, two children, and two
grandchildren.
(hina) ha jn