"I refute absolutely and with indignation all allegations which NGOs presented today at co-ordinated conferences in Zagreb and Osijek attacking me as the Osijek mayor, a member of parliament and the leader of the Croatian Party of Rights," Djapic said on Tuesday afternoon just before a session of the Osijek city government.
Earlier in the day the president of the Citizens' Committee on Human Rights (GOLJP), Zoran Pusic, said that "revealing the names of potential witnesses to crimes committed against Serb civilians in Osijek in 1991 was an immoral and punishable act by the Mayor of Osijek and member of Parliament, Anto Djapic, which damages the Croatian judiciary".
Press conferences on the matter were held simultaneously in Zagreb by the nongovernmental organisations GOLJP, Documenta and the Croatian Helsinki Committee on Human Rights (HHO), and in Osijek by the Centre for Peace and Human Rights.
Djapic said that a month ago in his capacity as Osijek Mayor he raised his voice at a news conference against what he called a months-long media campaign against the chairman of the Osijek City Council, Branimir Glavas.
According to Djapic, the campaign was actually "a public trial (of Glavas), which ignores the fact that everybody is innocent until proven guilty". Thus, Glavas's fundamental human rights and civil liberties have been infringed, Djapic said today.
It is interesting to see that the HHO and the Centre for Peace and Human Rights have never defended those human rights and now when it is evident that nothing can be proved against Glavas, they are embarking on a campaign against me, the Osijek mayor said.