BELGRADE, JANUARY 20 /SRNA/ – Croatian police arrested the Serb Boško Karalić, of Negoslavci, outside Vukovar, on suspicion that he committed a war crime against civilians, the Documentation-Information Center “Veritas” said.
“Veritas” says that Karalić was questioned and that the State Prosecutor's Office proposed to an investigative judge of the Osijek District Court to order the suspect remanded in custody, due to, as they explained, the danger of flight and the danger of him obstructing the investigation.
In addition to Karalić, police apprehended another seven residents of Negoslavci, but they were released after the questioning, says a press release.
It was emphasized that Serbs from the Vukovar area believe that the goal of arresting Karalić and frequent summoning and apprehension of Serbs from that area is to intimidate those who remained into leaving Croatia, as well as to deter Serb refugees from returning to their properties.
“Veritas” says that Karalić is accused by Croatia that he, together with several persons unknown, on July 29, 1991, as a member of the territorial defense, participated in an attack on several workers of an agricultural cooperative, two of whom were killed.
The Documentation-Information Center says that Karalić has already been arrested before, that he spent three days in police custody on suspicion that he took part in the killing of wounded persons who were evacuated from the Vukovar hospital, and who are still listed as missing.
“We learned from our sources that Boško is a serious and hard-working man, who, despite all these pressures, did not leave his property and his birthplace, and this fact in itself indicates his innocence,” says “Veritas.”
It was pointed out that the behavior of the Croatian authorities, including law enforcement agencies, towards Serbian citizens has not changed, although more than 26 years have passed since the end of the war, and 24 years since the so-called “peaceful reintegration” into the constitutional order.
Due to alleged war crimes, 15 Serbs from Croatia have been arrested in the past two years in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, nine of them in Croatia and six outside its territory. Most of them are from the Srem-Baranja area.
Currently, 25 members of the former JNA and the Serbian Army of Krajina are in Croatian prisons for war crimes, 15 of whom have been convicted, while the rest are under investigation, indicted or awaiting final verdicts.
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