ZAGREB, Oct 29 (Hina) - Ninety-four persons who had been imprisoned or put in custody pending a judicial verdict for armed rebellion and taking part in the aggression against Croatia were released in the period from 5 to 29 October
after the Amnesty Law came into effect. "This number can be said to be final," assistant to the Croatian Justice Minister in charge of implementing penal sanctions, Pasko Romic, said on Tuesday.
ZAGREB, Oct 29 (Hina) - Ninety-four persons who had been imprisoned
or put in custody pending a judicial verdict for armed rebellion
and taking part in the aggression against Croatia were released in
the period from 5 to 29 October after the Amnesty Law came into
effect.
"This number can be said to be final," assistant to the
Croatian Justice Minister in charge of implementing penal
sanctions, Pasko Romic, said on Tuesday. #L#
However, 27 persons who had been amnestied were again in
custody because indictments had been issued against them for
suspicions of having committed classic criminal offenses, Romic
said.
According to Justice Ministry information, a total of 103
persons had been placed into custody or imprisoned for having
committed crimes in armed conflicts and in the war against Croatia,
and who were not affected by the Amnesty Law. From this number, 26
persons were convicted and sentenced to prison and 77 persons were
put into custody pending a trial.
Assistant Justice Minister Tomislav Penic said that
perpetrators of crimes affected by the Amnesty Law would not be
criminally prosecuted.
If criminal proceedings were initiated they will be revoked,
that is, the state attorney would drop the charges and if the
criminal proceedings are under way, the court will order a stay of
proceedings.
The Amnesty Law applied for the first time to persons who had
been convicted and imprisoned, Penic said.
The Law affected perpetrators of all criminal acts which had
been committed during the armed rebellion and aggression against
Croatia since the beginning of the war, from 17 August 1990, to the
signing of the Agreement on Normalization of Relations between
Croatia and Yugoslavia on 23 August 1996.
"There is no danger of who committed crimes of murder, rape or
arson being pardonned. The amnesty is general, but there is no
pardon for war criminals," Penic said.
Speaking about the implementation of the Law in eastern
Slavonia, Baranja and western Srijem, Penic said that "there will
not be very serious problems".
As regards accusations by the Serbian press, Penic
categorically refuted that Serbs were being forced to sign
different statements after being released from Croatian prisons.
"We do have to establish the nationality of these people,
which is also in their interest. They state whether they accept
amnesty or not, whether they accept Croatian citizenship or not and
whether they want to remain in Croatia, but they are not forced to
sign these statements," Penic stressed, adding that it was not
possible to just let these persons go "out on the street".
The international community, Council of Europe and United
Nations were especially satisfied with the Amnesty Law and its
application, Penic said, adding that, so far, there had been no
complaints.
(hina) lm mm
291615 MET oct 96