BELGRADE, September 26 /SRNA/ – Head of Veritas Centre Savo Strbac has told Srna that the judgement by a Split court sentencing Dragan Vasiljkovic, a.k.a. Captain Dragan to 15 years in jail for alleged crimes in Croatia is a disgrace for the Croatian judiciary and not corroborated by evidence at all.
Strbac, who was part of the defence team, said he was disappointed that Captain Dragan was sentenced on two counts of the indictment – for alleged abuse of prisoners in the Knin Fortress and an attack on a police station in Glina.
“According to evidence, he was supposed to have been acquitted on all counts. The judges were supposed to be brave and fair for an acquittal but they obviously had neither courage nor judicial fairness. They gave him 15 years, which is not supported by evidence”, Strbac pointed out.
Even if Vasiljkovic had done what he was charged with – kicking or slapping someone in the fortress in Knin, that does not constitute a war crime by international standards, and he didn’t even do it, said Strbac.
Strbac added that the thing that happened in Glina – where two men were killed during an operation, a German reporter and a local man when they intentionally found themselves in crossfire even though they had been warned “and who knows who killed them,” could not be qualified as a crime, which Vasiljkovic isn’t even charged with.
“But there, Croats have proved for an umpteenth time they can make anything possible, that there is no justice in their judgements, that their judgements are not based on evidence, rather on public opinion. Those are political decisions, judges listen to what the public and politicians expect and do not found their decisions on evidence,” said Strbac.
The Veritas Centre leader understands that judges are made of flesh and blood and have to remain living in Split, and also that they would be in trouble if they had made the only fair decision, which would have been an acquittal.
“I was hoping he would get no more than eight years and that today he would be a free man; that would have been a strained judgement just to protect themselves. I was hoping he would board a plane today and go back to Australia,” said Strbac.
Strbac says he can hardly wait to see the reasoning that will explain on what evidence the sentencing judgement was based.
“I’m still convinced that at the end of the trial, a second or third one, the judgement will be reversed and returned for a retrial, and that judgement will be reversed until Vasiljkovic is acquitted because there is no evidence to support the charges, let alone a sentence,” said Strbac.
In case the first-instance judgement becomes final, the 12 years Captain Dragan spent in detention in Australia and Croatia will be calculated towards it.
“They have to extend his detention after the first-instance judgement but he may apply for provisional release and pardon as soon as the judgment is final, and he will get it. But that’s not in his interest. For if he wanted to be calculating, he could have entered a plea agreement and would have been given a much shorter sentence than this one,” said Strbac.
One should not forget, added Strbac, that Croatia would have had to pay damages for ungrounded stay in prison had Captain Dragan been acquitted.
“They /Croatia/ will have to do it sooner or later since Captain Dragan will have to be acquitted,” said Strbac. The defence will appeal the judgement stating there aren’t relevant materials to support it.
Dragan Vasiljkovic, a.k.a. Captain Dragan, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison before a court in Split, Croatia for alleged crime against prisoners of war and civilians between mid-1991 and early 1993.
He was found guilty on two counts – abuse of prisoners in the Knin Fortress and an attack on the policed station in Glina.
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