When Croatian Skeletons come out

In the past few years Croatia has successfully promoted its image abroad. Not only is it in the run to join the EU, its beaches also attract German, Czech and Italian tourists by the droves, it was even listed as No.1 vacation destination by Lonely Planet. But recent coverage (look at FT.com for an example) of the country is unfortunately unrelated to its natural beauty; Croats appear to be attempting to deal with their not so far-away past. After his detainment on Friday, member of parliament Branimir Glavas faces a trial for war crimes in ’91 and ‘92. Glavas, a former Croatian army general, was a commander in the city of Osijek during the Croatian war for Independence. Glavas was allegedly at the top of a chain of command responsible for the murder of ethnic Serb civilians in the city. This will be the most important war crime trial dealt with by the Croatian local judicial.
After about 15 years, many think it is about time to look into what happened at Osijek. After Glavas was stripped of parliamentary immunity last week, it appeared as though the country was ready to deal with some of the ugliest sides of its struggle for independence. According to a recent poll, 68 percent of Croats declared they knew of war crimes committed by Croat toops in the effort to respond to Serbian offensive. In the same survey, though, most Croats expressed mistrust for the judiciary system and thought its reform should be brought up during talks about future EU membership.
Glavas, who expresses his views in his website, is among those who do not trust Croatian courts. He has been denouncing political involvement and corruption on the prosecutors’ side ever since the investigations began over a year ago. Now Glavas has begun a hunger strike, protesting his innoncence. Glavas was a founding member of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the party currently lead by Prime Minister Ivo Sanader. Following disagreements with Sanader on the pro-Eu line, Glavas left the party and ran independently. The investigation began a year ago when a former militant in the military unit under Glavas’ command, Krunoslav Fehir, publicly denounced what had happened in Osijek. Fehir was only 16 when he started participating in military actions which allegedly involved the torture and murdering of ethnic Serbian civilians. The scandal broke out when the Feral Tribune published Fehir’s story, almost immediately after the former soldier gave his deposition. Amidst the great clamor, some criticized this young man’s alleged love for publicity. Many others wondered at how Glavas had been able to avoid investigations for so long, and criticized judges for not requiring immediate detention. The accusation of influencing witnesses through his still well established local power was supported by a few cases of depositions being changed once the witnesses’ names were made public. Even Fehir was taken to the capital and local police was not entrusted with the investigations. Thus there was little surprise when parliamentary immunity was lifted last week and Glavas voluntarily drove into Zagreb to be detained among much clamor and publicity.
Croatia is in the process of applying to join the EU in 2010. Talks are on-going and the decision regarding the Croatian candidacy will take place in June. Reform of the judiciary will certainly be an important step in the process of institutional renovation, but so will the test the judicial system is about to undertake. No matter how beautiful the Croatian beaches may appear, there are still a few skeletons to deal with in Osijek.