The change in Fehir's status from suspect to crown witness was requested by Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic and a decision to that effect was adopted by the Zagreb County Court about 10 days ago, court spokesman Kresimir Devcic told Hina on Monday.
Fehir is expected to be interviewed in his new role soon by investigating judge Zdenko Posavec, who interviewed him as a suspect when an investigation was launched in the Garage case last June. The statements he gave as a suspect and the evidence which came to light in the wake of them must be taken out of the case file and cannot be used during trial.
The State Prosecutor's Office today declined to comment on the change in Fehir's status.
"This is a sign of the Prosecutor's Office's weakness. They evidently have no valid evidence, otherwise they would not have given crown witness status to a person who admitted to beating prisoners to death and who changed his testimony several times," said Ante Madunic, one of Glavas's attorneys.
Devcic said the Prosecutor's Office was able to change Fehir's status under the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) Act, which refers to the Criminal Procedure Act.
Under the USKOK Act, the crown witness must sign a statement committing to telling the truth. If the witness honours his agreement with the Prosecutor's Office, the chief state prosecutor must drop the charges against him by the time the final sentence is handed down at the latest. However, if the witness fails to state all the facts, gives a false testimony or commits a new, graver crime, criminal proceedings against him may be resumed.
The Prosecutor's Office charged Fehir, a member of the 1st Osijek Battalion when the crimes were committed, with shooting a prisoner, torturing him and forcing him to drink acid, which resulted in the prisoner's death. During the investigation, Fehir confessed to the crime and based on his statements about Glavas's alleged involvement in the killing of Serb civilians, the Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation of the Garage case - the torture and murder of Serb civilians in Osijek in 1991 in the garage of the local National Defence Secretariat, which at the time was headed by Glavas. Fehir said the orders to kill those civilians had come from Glavas.
Unlike Glavas, Fehir was not placed in custody when the investigation was launched and the Prosecutor's Office did not request so.
Fehir's attorney Anto Nobilo said at the time that repentance was the motive behind his client's confession and that it was legally possible that he turn state's evidence.
Last July, Glavas pressed charges against Fehir for war crimes he claimed were not covered by the Garage case.
Glavas and six other defendants were indicted by the Osijek County Court today in the so-called Sellotape war crimes case - the murder of 10 civilians by the Drava river in 1991.