Croatian parliament votes to keep lawmaker in custody...

Associated Press

November 22, 2006

Croatian parliament votes to keep lawmaker in custody during war crimes investigation
 
The Croatian parliament voted Wednesday to keep a lawmaker in custody while he is investigated for alleged war crimes, despite his hunger strike and protests by rightist supporters.

Branimir Glavas, formerly a governing party member, was detained in October on suspicions that he ordered the killings of ethnic Serb civilians during the 1991 Serbo-Croat war.

Most parliamentarians voted Wednesday to keep Glavas behind bars during the investigation, due to the severity of the suspected crimes and a potential that he could influence witnesses.

Glavas, who has not yet been formally indicted, denies any wrongdoing. The investigation and potential future trial could take up to a year.

Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, who expelled Glavas from the governing Croatian Democratic Union last year, reportedly voiced concern that releasing Glavas could prompt criticism by Western governments.

The vote in the 151-seat chamber where the Democratic Union has a slim majority was requested by rightist parties, who had demanded Glavas be released during the legal proceedings.

Glavas has been on a hunger strike to protest what he described as "fabricated" allegations against him. He vowed Wednesday in a letter to continue the strike, "choosing rather to die than live in such a monstrous state."

Glavas' supporters protested the parliamentary vote, saying keeping Glavas in custody would "kill" him.

Croats remain divided over the issue of prosecuting Croat war crimes suspects. The country long insisted only Serbs had committed crimes during the war, which erupted when minority Serbs rebelled against Croatia's 1991 secession from the former Yugoslavia.

The government hopes the case helps demonstrate further that Croatian courts are impartial, a key condition for joining the European Union. But some Croats remain convinced that people like Glavas were wartime heroes and should not be prosecuted.

Prosecutors are investigating allegations that Glavas ordered the torture of three Serbs and killings of two others in one case, and the killing of six Serbs in another case. The crimes were committed in Osijek, eastern Croatia, where Glavas was considered a warlord at the time.

Glavas, now in parliament as an independent, formed his own party after leaving the Democratic Union.