ZAGREB, Sept 23 (Hina) - The Supreme Court on Monday extended custody for Tihomir Oreskovic and Ivica Rozic, as the first and second accused in the so-called Gospic Group, after they were released from custody about ten days
ago.
ZAGREB, Sept 23 (Hina) - The Supreme Court on Monday extended
custody for Tihomir Oreskovic and Ivica Rozic, as the first and
second accused in the so-called Gospic Group, after they were
released from custody about ten days ago. #L#
The Supreme Court overruled a ruling by Rijeka County Court
releasing the two from custody on September 11 and 12 after two
years in custody with the explanation that the legal period
prescribed as the maximum for custody had expired. The County Court
based its decision on the fact that the maximum sentence for war
crimes against civilian population, that the two are charged for,
when the crimes were committed in 1991, was 15 years.
Rijeka County prosecutor Doris Hrast, however, appealed against
this decision.
When the matter refers to a punishment envisaged for the most
serious and horrific forms of criminal acts, then the strictest
provision of the Law on Criminal Procedure must be applied to
proceedings that relate to the length of imprisonment, the Supreme
Court's ruling noted.
As such, the Supreme Court concluded that in the case at hand,
custody for Oreskovic and Rozic could last until the passing of a
sentence in the court of first instance with a maximum of three
years and not two as Rijeka County Court had interpreted.
According to the Supreme Court, the reason why Oreskovic and
Rozic's custody had been extended previously still existed.
The circumstances under which the defendants are burdened for the
crimes primarily lie in the fact that it planned to liquidate
civilians who led a peaceful co-existence until then and so by its
nature presents a particularly harsh circumstance for the acts and
entirely justifies the application of continued custody, the
Supreme Court's ruling noted.
Seeing that Rozic was in the meantime taken into custody by Gospic
County Court due to an investigation for another crime (bombimg
houses in Gospic killing seven people - mostly Serb returnees), the
Supreme Court's ruling on the extension of custody will be applied
when the supplementary custody expires.
(hina) sp sb lml