ZAGREB, April 22 (Hina) - The State has agreed to a deal with the family of Milan Levar, a Hague war crimes tribunal witness who was killed under still unclear circumstances four years ago, under which Levar's wife Vesna and son Leon
will each be paid 220,000 kuna (approximately 30,000 euros) in damages and Leon will receive an additional 2,500 kuna (330 euros) every month for as long as he attends school.
ZAGREB, April 22 (Hina) - The State has agreed to a deal with the
family of Milan Levar, a Hague war crimes tribunal witness who was
killed under still unclear circumstances four years ago, under which
Levar's wife Vesna and son Leon will each be paid 220,000 kuna
(approximately 30,000 euros) in damages and Leon will receive an
additional 2,500 kuna (330 euros) every month for as long as he
attends school.#L#
"A deal has been reached and should be signed tomorrow," Deputy Public
Prosecutor Jadranko Jug told Hina on Thursday, adding that the
settlement had been reached to the satisfaction of both parties.
Jug said that the Office of the Public Prosecutor agreed to the deal
after it was found that Croatian authorities had received a request
from the Hague tribunal's prosecution in April 1998 to protect Levar.
"The request was received by the Office for Cooperation with the Hague
Tribunal, which forwarded it to the Interior Ministry. This has been
verified beyond doubt, but it is not clear why the police did not do
it," Jug said.
The family's legal representative, Branko Seric, said that Vesna and
Leon Levar were "absolutely satisfied" with the settlement as well as
with the fact that it was proved that the Croatian authorities were
responsible for the protection of Milan Levar.
Seric had filed a lawsuit against the State with the Zagreb Municipal
Court, demanding more than a million kuna (approximately 133,000
euros) in damages on account of the mental anguish Vesna and Leon
Levar suffered as the result of the loss of husband and father.
After the first hearing last month, Seric announced the possibility of
a deal, saying he would not agree to less than 440,000 kuna in
damages.
Milan Levar was killed in an explosion in the yard of his home in
Gospic, about 200km south of Zagreb, on 28 August 2000. He volunteered
to give testimony to the Hague tribunal about crimes committed against
Serb civilians in the Gospic area in 1991.
Despite a comprehensive police investigation and repeated statements
by the previous government that the investigation was nearing
completion, the killer has not been identified to date.
After Levar was killed, the Interior Ministry issued a statement
saying that it had received a request from the Hague tribunal through
the Government's Office for Cooperation with the Tribunal in April
1998 to protect Milan Levar and his family.
The request was forwarded to the then assistant interior ministers
Josko Moric and Zeljko Sacic, who in turn sent it to their respective
departments for further procedure. However, the document was not sent
to the Lika-Senj Police Department and it remains unknown where it
ended up.
(Hina) vm