Glavas Again on Hunger Strike

Hunger-striking former army general and ex-mayor of the eastern Croatian town of Osijek, Branimir Glavas, was transferred to a prison infirmary in Zagreb this week, after his health seriously deteriorated.



Glavas, on hunger-strike for two weeks, has been in prison since April 17, when Osijek County Court issued an indictment against him and another six individuals for crimes against Croatian Serbs in Osijek in 1991.



Five of the other six indictees are also on hunger strike.



Glavas was taken into custody in Zagreb in late 2006 on separate charges, which also pertained to war crimes committed in Osijek at the beginning of Croatia’s 1991-95 war.



He then went on a month-long hunger strike, after which his health deteriorated so much that the judges ordered his release from prison in early December.



Glavas is apparently protesting against the court’s decision to put him in custody during the trial, because he posed a threat to potential witnesses.



He also said on numerous occasions that he didn’t trust Croatia’s judiciary and would be given a fair trial at a local court.



This is Glavas’s third hunger strike since he was first accused of war crimes in Osijek. Glavas was one of the most powerful politicians in Croatia before he was indicted.



Merdijana Sadovic is IWPR’s Hague programme manager.