Split, 6 Mar - After the team of lawyers of Branimir Glavaš, accused for war crimes, announced a sue against “Feral Tribune” and demanded a million kuna indemnity because of the “Feral” front page, the editorial board of “Feral Tribune” will address to the European Commission, to all international institutions engaged in negotiations between the Republic of Croatia and the European Union, and to the representatives of all countries included in the process. The editorial board is warning those institutions about the scandalous trial to Branimir Glavaš and shameful incidents associated to it, which is the responsibility of the official Croatian politics. Namely, the death threats to journalists and witnesses in the process, public discrediting of the people involved in the judicial inquiry, and now even the open intimidation of independent media coincide with releasing Branimir Glavaš from pretrial detention which was the result of a political decision to suspend the decisions of the legal institutions.
This is a unique case in European practice so far: a person accused for the most serious war crimes is out on pretrial release, without restricted movement and public appearance. Also unique, but intimidating as well, is the fact that political authorities bluntly intervene into the work of juridical bodies and abolish the decisions brought by court instances. The results are death threats, intimidations, public manifestation of arrogance, and turning the court proceedings into a complete farce.
The editorial board of “Feral Tribune” will present to the European Commission and to all international institutions involved in negotiations between the Republic of Croatia and the European Union the chronology of the oppression which have been emitted form Branimir Glavaš’s party and his lawyers, towards the witnesses and journalists. In our last issue of “Feral” we wrote about threats to our editor Drago Hedl addressed by Branimir Glavaš himself. The million kuna suit announced by his defendants has no legal grounds; on the contrary, it is arrogant intimidation and a message to Croatian media to be careful about how they write about the “Glavaš case”, as they might be financially destroyed. In view of the experiences with Croatian courts, and crucial influence of Croatian politics to the Croatian judicature, the editorial board of the “Feral Tribune” has reasons to believe that “Feral” would lose the case and pay draconian punishment because of its articles about war crimes over Serbian civilians in Osijek in 1991. In the meantime, the accused for mass murders, thanks to the will of the governing politics, enjoys his freedom and appears in theatre premieres, cheered by his followers.
The editorial board of “Feral Tribune” will also file a complaint to the Law Society of the Republic of Croatia for the blatant conflict of interest of Glavaš’s attorney Veljko Miljević. Before engaging in his defence, Veljko Miljević was the vice-President of the Croatian Helsinki Committee at the time when that organisation was collecting the testimonials of the witnesses in the “Glavaš case”. It is beyond doubt that the lawyer Miljević had the opportunity to see the statements of the witnesses who applied to a non-governmental association for the protection of human rights, to abuse them later in the interest of his client. Besides being immoral, such an act is also without precedence in the European judicial practice and indicates the corruptive links within the system, especially discrediting the profession and the reputation of the Croatian Helsinki Committee. Because of intimidations and pressures made to independent media, we will ask for the support from all relevant professional organisations, including the World Federation of Journalists. We decided to apply to international institutions – especially to those involved in negotiations of the Republic of Croatia with European Union – after we lost all and every hope that national political and government bodies could react. It is evident that they act in favour of the accused for the most serious war crimes.
Editorial Board of “Feral Tribune”
For more information please contact:
Mr. Drago Hedl, Deputy Editor
E: dragutin.hedl@os.t-com.hr
M: +385 91 11 77 207