Partly under international pressures, coming strongly from Britain and the Netherlands, the Croatian government has decided to finally settle accounts with the fugitive Hrvoje Petrač. Nacional has learned that the government is willing to use all methods and means to destroy him. In only a few months, he has been accused of two crimes: for participating in the kidnapping of the son of General Zagorec and in the affair of bribing police officers of the Zagreb Police. This information, as Nacional has learned from three sources – diplomatic, judicial and from the top ranks of Sanader’s government, has received confirmation in practice last week, with the house searches and questioning of Željko Dilber, Zoni Maksan, Zdenka Rinčić and Željko Matazon. The ultimate goal is pressure, which is intended to lead to the surrender of General Gotovina, who is thought to be financed from abroad by none other than Hrvoje Petrač.

By applying pressure from abroad, they want to have all of Petrač’s assets and all his bank accounts frozen. With that, the Croatian government and justice system is trying to kill two birds with one stone. Firstly, they are trying to get rid of Petrač, whom the media has already tainted to such an extent that they have virtually labeled him the media boss for the whole of Southeast Europe, and secondly, they are trying to force Gotovina to surrender. Sanader’s equation is very simply: if they can financially destroy Petrač, then the assistance to Gotovina will dry up and he, short of cash, will become available to the police somewhere abroad or he will appear in Croatia under the burden of financial problems and will voluntarily surrender to the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague. Whether or not this international construction has any substance is of little interest to the Croatian government, as Petrač is an ideal victim for a number of reasons.

Firstly, he is already a fugitive and cannot defend himself. Secondly, all of the media under Ninoslav Pavić and his Europapress holding will support this government action, as EPH has been at odds with Petrač for a long time, and Petrač has filed numerous criminal charges against the publishing house and individual reporters. Due to his constant criminalization in the press, the public is also against Petrač, and therefore there will be absolutely no problems if maximal actions are taken against him. Next, the fact that he has no political protection is also a problem, for even if he had such protection, no one in their right mind would back him up under the current circumstances. The situation is the same in the justice system, secret service and policy, which have all turned against him thanks to the media. All in all, Petrač is the ideal victim, the kind that the Croatian government could only dream of.

For Petrač, there is only one way out of such a situation – court. And in order to take that exit, two important elements have to be present. The first is that he has to be innocent of all the charges against him, and the second that the court does not fall under the political influence from either the domestic or the international “kitchens”, influence which are justified with supposed higher state interests. The first element depends only upon Petrač. While the second is a sink or swim situation for the Croatian justice system. If it is shown that the man is innocent, and he is convicted due to politics, the delicacy of the situation or public sensibility over the Gotovina case, then the Croatian justice system would lose all credibility. If Petrač is guilty, then he should be convicted, however, if he cannot be proven guilty, then he should not be set up for political reasons.

Last Thursday, the police planned to conduct simultaneous searches in the homes of four of Gotovina’s friends. They would have succeeded had Željko Matozan, Gotova’s co-defender through the entire war, been at home in Velika Gorica. However, on that day, this retired HV soldier, seriously injured in a car accident, was at the home of his parents in Drniš. Neighbours from Velika Gorica called him to warn him that the police had surrounded the building to search it. At that time, he contact the police and told him he was on his way, in order that the front door not be bashed in. And that is how is was. Matozan sat in his car and drove several hours to Velika Gorica, unlocked the front door for the police and the search was conducted. For this reason, the news only broadcast information that searches had been conducted at the homes of three of Gotovina’s possible partners, while the fourth was not mentioned. Matozan and Gotovina have been connected since the first war says, right after Gotovina returned from the Foreign Legion. These two men fought together as volunteers in Novska, going to do reconnaissance work on the Bosnian side of the Sava River. There they got into a jam and the Serbs almost imprisoned them. They escaped by swimming across the river. Matazon succeeded in holding onto his gun while Gotovina lost his in the icy Sava.

In the search of Matazon’s home, like in the homes of the other three arrested men, did not find any trace or any information which could tie them to the fugitive general. Only one of the men is concerned about his computer being taken, not out of fear that the police will uncover hidden information which could lead to Gotovina, but because of several saved pornographic films. Other than questions about Gotovina, when and where they met and through whom, the main questions revolved around Hrvoje Petrač. The police were very disappointed to head Matazon’s response that he had never seen Petrač in his life, let alone spoken to him, and that he could not even be sure that he remembered what he looked like, having only seen pictures in the newspapers.

The police also searched the offices of Maksan, Dilber and Rinčić, where they also turned up empty-handed. They took their mobile phones, even the phones of their wives, and their computers. Dilber did not have his computer in the house, only his son’s, which the police also took. Found at Dilber’s home was a trophy Russian Parabellum revolver from World War II. Dilber has a license for five firearms, and this piece was not registered, as he held it in his house as a souvenir.

All three men were questioned by police, who came with search warrants signed in Zagreb. From the police questions, it was clear that they were certainly more interested in Petrač than Gotovina and the financing of the general’s defense. According to information available to police, Gotovina’s defense to date has cost 20,000 euro. According to Nacional’s reliable information, the police information is incorrect. For his defense is free considering that all the attorneys are working pro bono on the case. One day when it is all over, they hope that at least part of the expenses will be covered. The police asked Dilber when he met Petrač and when he was hired by Petrač to work at the insurance company Atlas, but they were unpleasantly surprised when he responded that he first met Petrač in 2003 and that it was not Petrač who hired him to work at Atlas, it was Zdenko Rinčić, who he had known for many years. He told them that he had seen Petrač only a few times and that he had once paid him a visit at his summer house on Krk Island. When asked about the relationship between Petrač and Gotovina, he responded that he was not even certain that the two men knew each other, and if they did, that they had perhaps only met once. When asked whether part of the money earned in the sale of Atlas Insurance was used to finance Gotovina, Dilber responded that he did not even know the company had been sold, and that he had only learned of that from the newspapers after it was purchased by Euroherc.

The majority of questions were aimed at the possibility of Petrač’s financing of Gotovina. When Dilber responded that he had no idea of whether Petrač was financing Gotovina, they asked him whether he knew that part of all of Petrač’s operational profit was sent to Gotovina on the run and for paying the legal bills. They asked Dilber whether he knew anything about the sale of the house and land in Opatija. Dilber responded that he had no idea that Petrač had a house in Opatija with three other owners. However, this house is in catastrophic condition as it was caught in a fire 2-3 years ago, and because of the unresolved ownership issues, the roof leaks and the house is going to ruin.

Though all the news reports stated that the four men had been arrested and taken in for questioning, that is not true. By law, the police can detain a suspect for questioning for a maximum of 24 hours, without the presence of an attorney. In the questioning following the arrest, the presence of an attorney is mandatory, as only such a statement will be recognized in court. Considering that none of the four men had an attorney present, this is clear that this was not an arrest, but only an interrogation. Had the police found anything that could have lead them to Gotovina, the men would have been arrested and put in detention for a minimum of 48 hours.

Maksan was asked similar questions: when he met Gotovina, under what circumstances, when he last saw him, who was financing the General’s defense. The next questions had to do with his business relations with a security company, which he recently talked about in the media. Considering that Maksan has a joint venture with the Israelis, former members of Mossad, who train men as bodyguards, they asked who connected them. They asked if this was set up by Casino Vega, in which Petrač was formerly a co-owner. Then the police asked which lawyers he had been in contact with and whether or not he had sought approval from his lawyer before making his recent public appearances. After he responded negatively to all the questions, they asked him who coordinated all of Gotovina’s friends and co-defenders, and who has been replacing Gotovina since he has been on the run. Maksan did not respond to that question, thinking that it was absurd. Rinčić, who remained director of Atlas Insurance even following the sale to Euroherc, was also asked similar questions. Like the others, he too knew nothing about the financing of Gotovina, and the police returned to Zagreb with only a few mobile phones and computers, one of which has quite interesting contents, at least for male viewers.

Finally, the question arises as to what the point was of this entire show. Had any of these men had any connections to Gotovina, they likely would not have held evidence of this at home. That in particular is the case for Dilber and Maksan, who for months have been on the list of those banned from entering into the EU. Due to great pressures on Sanader’s government, all of these searches were made in order to show Croatia’s cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. Such pressure is expected, as Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte will soon have to submit her periodical report to the UN Security Council, and she will have to list what measures have been taken towards arresting Hague suspects on the run. In the Gotovina case, she has no one to press other than Sanader and his government, that Sanader even permitted the British spies to run operations in Croatia, that Željko Bagić and Franjo Turek were fired and that Carla Del Ponte then announced that Gotovina would be apprehended by 30 June of this year, it is clear that her frustrations are only rising. Her efforts have born no fruit, and now that these recent searches have proved completely pointless, all that has been satisfied is the level of cooperation with the ICTY and the international community or, more precisely put, with Britain.

What next? The POA and State Prosecutor’s office reports on measures taken to find and apprehend Gotovina will be submitted to Carla Del Ponte this week. These reports will include the failed searches. Who will be the victim next time round, when the new reports are due is hard to say. Perhaps those who truly financed Gotovina and those who are really in contact with him. If that happens, there will be many headaches in high ranking circles.