ZAGREB, April 21 (Hina) - The murder of the Zec family must be solved, but the state cannot be accountable for crimes its officers commit without it having ordered them, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said during question time in
parliament on Wednesday. In this context, PM Sanader quoted a decision by the Office of the State Prosecutor which turned down a proposal by the lawyers of the two survived members of the Zec family for an out-of-court settlement for damages to be paid for the death of their parents and 12-year-old sister, who were killed in Zagreb in 1991.
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ZAGREB, April 21 (Hina) - The murder of the Zec family must be solved,
but the state cannot be accountable for crimes its officers commit
without it having ordered them, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said during
question time in parliament on Wednesday. In this context, PM Sanader
quoted a decision by the Office of the State Prosecutor which turned
down a proposal by the lawyers of the two survived members of the Zec
family for an out-of-court settlement for damages to be paid for the
death of their parents and 12-year-old sister, who were killed in
Zagreb in 1991.#L#
An MP of the Istrian Democratic Alliance (IDS), Damir Kajin, asked
whether the government would pay compensation to Dusan and Gordana Zec
in an out-of-court settlement for the death of their family members.
"We sympathise with the Zec family, but this does not give us the
right to influence the decision of the State Prosecutor who has
explained that the state is not responsible for crimes committed by
salaried officers off duty," Sanader said.
The first thing which should be established is whether the policemen
suspected of the murder committed the crime while on duty and
following an order, Sanader told the parliament.
Last week, the Office of the State Prosecutor turned down a proposal
for an out-of-court settlement with two survived members of the Zec
family who demanded that the Republic of Croatia pay them 2.16 million
kuna in damages for the death of their father, mother and sister. "All
prerequisites for a settlement have not been met yet, because in the
case of the murder of the three members of the Zec family there are
some disputed facts which should be clarified and established by the
court," Deputy State Prosecutor Jadranko Jug told Hina last Friday.
This primarily refers to the motive of the killing and whether the
police reservists suspected of killing Mihajlo, Marija and Aleksandra
Zec committed the crime as civilians or while on duty.
Sanader gave the same answer to Social Democrat Mato Gavran, who
believes that Croatia should offer damages to the survived members as
a moral act and because it was responsible for grave procedural
omissions made by the state prosecutor at the time when the suspects
were acquitted.
The suspects admitted to having committed the crime during a
preliminary investigation, however, without the presence of their
lawyers. Owing to this procedural omission, they were never put on
trial.
Gavran's statement triggered off a strong reaction by the
parliamentary session's chairman, Vladimir Seks, who in 1992 was the
State Prosecutor in the case against the suspects in the murder of the
three Zec family members.
"An investigating judge interviewed the suspects without the presence
of their lawyers, and therefore an acquittal ensued. The Supreme Court
confirmed their release. Do not impute to me responsibility for
somebody not having been brought to justice," Seks said.
Yesterday, the trial in the civil lawsuit which Gordana and Dusan Zec
filed against Croatia began before the Zagreb Municipal Court. The
siblings demand 1.5 million kuna in damages for the death of their
father Mihajlo, mother Marija, and 12-year-old sister Aleksandra.
(Hina) ms