CHANGE IN STRUCTURE

Minister: Police Shook After Each Elections

Of course that the minister and state secretaries are submissive to politics, but there must not be tectonic disturbances.�

ZAGREB, CROATIA – The Croatian Minister of Internal Affairs Tomislav Karamarko stated that next year they will continue to depoliticise and professionalise the police. They will do this in order to stop the bad work of the politics and circumstances that occur leading up to each elections, and after because of possible changes, half of the police structure shakes.

�Of course the ministers and state secretaries are submissive to politics, but the professional core must protect itself, and there cannot be tectonic disturbances� said Karamarko in an interview for Croatian Radio.

According to his opinion, the influence of politics was seen at the middle and lower levels, where the local government tried to influence the police system. He evaluated that there is no longer problems in cooperation between the SOA (Security Intelligence Agency) and MUP (Ministry of Internal Affairs), and that whilst he was at the head of SOA they regularly supplied the police with information, and in his opinion, the problem was inside MUP.

He voiced his content with MUP�s budget for next year, even though, he said, because of the economic situation some projects like new uniforms and improving the status of police officers, will have to wait for other times.

Dramatic year

He claims that the past year was dramatic because of the serious crimes that disturbed the citizens, like the murder of Ivo Pukanic and Ivana Hodak, after whose liquidation he was named minister. He considers that the police will solve the murder of that young apprentice lawyer.

�The processing is going in the right direction, but it hard to say if it will end in one week, month or longer� he said. He added that he expects that some older mafia murders will be solved.

Just like his recent interview for the press, he did not want to reveal the role of the Croatian intelligence agencies in locating the Hague suspect, general Ante Gotovina. He said that it would be unprofessional from his side.

Operation �Shock� and suit against Peratovic

He described the recent operation �Shock�, in which a number of people were arrested and then released in Zagreb who were linked to organized crime for years, as a proactive and preventive operation.

�The operation is new in many ways. We want the police to prevent events, and not the run after them� he said.

In the end, Karamarko explained that he filed the private suit against two bloggers, Zeljko Peratovic and Domagoj Margetic, in order to protect his dignity from, according to his evaluation, allegations without arguments on his account. The allegations were, for example, that he obstructed the investigation into the murder of the Hague witness Milan Levar in Gospic.

If they have the right to publish things that no normal citizen would tolerate, then I have the right to file a citizen law suit against them, says Karamarko.

HINA, translated by Joseph Stedul, Javno.com, December 22, 2008

Minister Sues Bloggers for Slander

Lawyer Veljko Miljevic said that the suit was filed for the continued and long term spreading of false and disturbing contents.

ZAGREB, CROATIA – The Croatian Minister of Internal Affairs Tomislav Karamarko sued a free journalist Zeljko Peratovic for slander. Karamarko announced filing suits against two bloggers, and the first � Peratovic � received his via post this morning.

“I do not know the contents of the suit, but I saw that the County State Attorney’s Office rejected the private suit by the chief of SOA (Security Intelligence Agency), and after he made an addition to it, the county infringement court brought a decision that the case be taken up by the judge of the County Court in Zagreb. It is possible that he sue me for the article by the journalist Malic, which was announced recently in Jutarnji List, in which they mention Marin Tomulic and Ivan Jurasinovic on my blog, but I do not know exactly. Karamarko is still placing pressure on people close to me, holds them under investigation and suggests that they should not talk with me. Because of similar things I am preparing to file a report against Karamarko, Mladen Bajic and USKOK (Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime), for the obstruction of some murder investigations, and against Zagreb’s police for illegal searches” said the journalist Peratovic. He added that, even though he often writes about Tomislav Karamarko, he does not have anything against him personally, and he only saw him twice in his life.

Long term and continued slander

“The suit is not for slander but for the spreading of false and disturbing contents, which in my opinion, has lastingly continued for a long time, which was a justified reason for starting a procedure. This law suit does not function like a private one. In such cases an offence report is filed and official responsibility, but the State Attorney’s Office mainly rejects such suits, so we filed a new indictment proposal.

As we find out, Karamarko will for the same reasons sue the journalist Domagoj Margetic.

Both bloggers have previously had problems with the police and secret services. Peratovic was even taken in for giving away state secrets, whilst Margetic ended up in the Hague for not respecting the ICTY, more precisely, for revealing the identity of the protected witnesses in the Blaskic case.

Mladen Prenc, Javno.com, Published: December 15, 2008

Pres’t to pay fine for insult

Stjepan Mesic & Hu Jintao (photo by China Radio International)总统侮辱律师被罚万元

A Zagreb district court ruled Thursday that Croatian President Stipe Mesic should pay about $12800 in damages to Ivan Jurasinovic, a lawyer he insulted. Jurasinovic sued Mesic for telling him publicly 3 years ago that he should “visit Vrapce, where he could get effective care.” Vrapce is where Zagreb’s mental hospital is located.

克罗地亚首都萨格勒布一地区法院23日作出判决，要求总统梅西奇向遭其侮辱的律师尤拉斯诺维奇支付约合1.28万美元赔偿金。梅西奇3年前在公共场合说，尤拉斯诺维奇应当去”乌拉普采看看，他会在那里得到有效治疗”。乌拉普采是萨格勒布一家精神病院的所在地。

ChinaDaily早报10.26