US embassy cable - 05ZAGREB1553

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 001553 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR EUR DICARLO; EUR/SCE ENGLISH, BELL; S/WCI-PROSPER, 
HODGKINSON; L/EUR JOHNSON; INR MORIN 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO NSC BRAUN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/21/2015 
TAGS: KAWC, PGOV, PREL, HR, War Crimes 
SUBJECT: WAR CRIMES: CROATIA PROSECUTING ITS OWN 
 
REF: A. ZAGREB 1254 
 
     B. ZAGREB 1175 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: Ralph Frank, reasons 1.4 (b) & (d). 
 
1. (U) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: The GoC welcomed the September 14 
decision by the International Criminal Tribunal for the 
former Yugoslavia (IChY) to refer the war crimes case against 
Rahim Ademi and Mirko Norac to the Croatia, saying it shows 
the credibility of the country's judiciary.  Recent domestic 
investigations and prosecutions uphold the confidence the 
ICTY has shown in the local courts, demonstrating that the 
GoC no longer shrinks from addressing crimes committed by 
Croatians against ethnic Serbs.  USG-funded training and 
equipment have helped strengthen the courts' resolve in these 
sensitive cases.  END SUMMARY AND COMMENT. 
 
CROATIA'S FIRST (AND ONLY?) RULE 11 BIS TRANSFER 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
2. (SBU) Ademi and Norac are charged with individual and 
command responsibility for crimes against Serb civilians and 
prisoners of war during the 1993 Medak Pocket Operation.  The 
Croatian judiciary is well aware that the Ademi-Norac 
referral will serve as a critical test of its readiness for 
additional transfers, though most likely only cases at the 
pre-indictment stage.  The GoC is anxious to fully 
demonstrate this capacity, both to remove a barrier to 
Euro-Atlantic integration and to reduce the political fallout 
from sending indoctees to The ague. 
 
3. (SBU) The ICTY Office of the Prosecutor hasuntil October 
14 to hand over all case material and evidence to Croatian 
Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic.  Bajic must then 
recommend to the Supreme Court where he can best prosecute 
the case.  The Supreme Court then accepts or rejects the 
recommendation, and, once a proposal is accepted, officially 
designates the venue for the trial.  Bajic recently told 
PolOff he intends to request that the case be tried in Zagreb 
County Court, which just convicted five former Croatian 
reserve policemen for a wartime murder near Pakrac in 1991. 
 
COMBINED 30 YEARS FOR DEFENDANTS IN PAKRACKA POLJANA CASE 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
4. (U) The Zagreb County Court sentenced the five to prison 
terms ranging from two to ten years for murder and illegal 
detention in an unofficial prison camp about 100 kilometers 
east of Zagreb.  According to the verdict, ethnic Serb 
prisoners were treated in a manner "not seen since the times 
of Nazism."  An inadmissible confession of one defendant 
indicated more than 200 people were killed in the Pakracka 
Poljana camp, but the court was only able to uncover evidence 
for one murder. 
 
5. (C) At the time of the crimes, the five were under the 
command of Tomislav Mercep, who many expected to be indicted 
by the ICTY.  Instead, his case will likely be a non-11 bis 
transfer.  Head of the ICTY liaison office in Zagreb Thomas 
Osorio told PolOff that much of the evidence for the Pakracka 
Poljana case came from ICTY investigators, already 
demonstrating Croatia's capacity to handle such transfers. 
 
RE-TRIAL BEGINS IN INFAMOUS LORA PRISON CASE 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
6. (U) On September 12, the Split County Court began the 
re-trial of eight Croatian m6litary police for the murder and 
abuse of Serb inmates at the Lora Military Prison in 1992. 
The original trial in 2001 ended in acquittal but was marred 
by extreme misconduct and bias on the part of the presiding 
judge in favor of the defendants.  The Supreme Court quashed 
the acquittal in 2004 and ordered a trail before a new panel 
of judges. 
 
7. (U) The new presiding judge, Spomenka Tokovic, assured 
PolOff that the re-trial will be free of any bias.  In the 
first week of hearings, she has already demonstrated that the 
new trial will be far more credible than the first.  Judge 
Tokovic also expressed gratitude for the USG donation of a 
digital video-conference system for use in witness 
protection, which she said will be vital for questioning the 
55 witnesses from four countries to be heard in the case. 
 
8. (C) Croatian police also continue to aggressively 
investigate liquidations of Serb civilians in and around 
Osijek in 1991 (ref A) despite attempts by suspects to 
obstruct the process (septel). 
FRANK 
 
 
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