Pupovac said that the perpetrator of this heinous murder must be identified and brought to justice, recalling that six people had been left disabled by planted explosives in the same area in 2001 but that no one had been brought to account.
It is because of incidents like this one that people are reluctant to return to their prewar homes in this area, and the perpetrators should by no means go unpunished again, Pupovac said.
According to the testimonies of villagers, Spanovic was found dead with a Partisan-style cap on his head, covered with an army blanket, his hands tied behind the back and a piece of rope around his neck, gagged, and with injuries on the face and the body.
Local imam Azim Durmic said that Spanovic was one of the 225 beneficiaries of the government's "Help at Home" programme for elderly people which is conducted by the Home for the Elderly and Infirm based in Siroka Rijeka. The home is run by the Islamic community.
We never noticed that Spanovic had any enemies. Everything seemed all right even on April 12 when our workers last came to his place to cook him a meal, clean up and iron his clothes, Durmic said.
Branko Eremic, mayor of Vojnic municipality to which Krstinja village belongs, said that mainly elderly people live in the otherwise deserted village and that cases of theft are frequent.
Karlovac County deputy prosecutor Mladen Krajacic, who is running the investigation, told Hina that Spanovic was killed in his yard between April 15 and 17. He would not reveal other details, citing the interests of the investigation.