After Ivan Turudic convicted Hrvoje Petrac of kidnapping and sentenced him to six years in prison without a single piece of concrete evidence, my only recommendation to the attorneys of Rahim Ademi and Mirko Norac is to be ready for anything. For this man, who is supposed to be the pillar of the rule of law, is willing to do anything for the sake of his career. In making his verdict, Turudic stated that the “testimonies of Petrac and Matekovic are so strongly corroborated, that they must have gotten together to agree to all the details”?!

The second pearl of “judge” Turudic’s substantiation was that “Petrac’s motive for the kidnapping was a mystery”! The question must be posed as to why there was a retrial if the “judge” already knew that everything stated by Matekovic and Petrac Sr. and Jr. in court was a lie and that he would not accept it. If this was his opinion, then he needed to prove that in court, and not hire bodyguards weeks before the end of the trial and parade around town. Also, he also discretely commented in several places that he would convict Petrac before the closing remarks were held. What did “judge” Turudic mean to prove by this?

Nothing, except that his ambition is to get to the Supreme Court; after “successfully” handling Petrac, all he has left to do is to “successfully” handle the ICTY case against Ademi and Norac. The way that would best suit the government and Europe. An indication of the scandalous verdict to come was seen in the reaction of the State Attorney’s Office, that right off the bat rejected criminal charges due to the pressures of individual reporters on the court. “If Petrac is not convicted, that will be a blow to the European Croatia and yet another victory of organized crime over the rule of law.” This was one of the statements made at the beginning of the case, when it was already clear that the indictment was not as strong as was originally thought. If that wasn’t pressure on the court, then Mladen Bajic should be asked what pressure on the court looks like. I wouldn’t be surprised if now, after the verdict has already been passed and they can no longer influence it, his men in the Municipal Attorney’s Office characterize this article as pressure on the court and raise charges against me, or whether they accept Turudic’s. If that is the price of establishing the rule of law, proving the kind of absurdity is possible, I am more than willing to go to jail.

Perhaps this would help the existing government on its “European path”? However, I do not believe that Sanader’s government participated in this dirty game. That is why I didn’t believe a story once told to me by law circles very close to Turudic. During the first trial, there was a rumour in the law grapevine that Turudic had said that there was no grounds on which to convict Petrac other than hearsay. Considering that this all took place at the time the hunt for Gotovina was at its climax, and Petrac had already been branded by the media as the general’s greatest aid, the government allegedly panicked. What if Turudic was to free Petrac? What would the European Commission say, Carla Del Ponte, EU ambassadors in Zagreb, how could Sanader come before Europe and ask for a start for the negotiations? According to this rumour, which I don’t believe, the “judge” was called to a meeting with the Premier after the Petract verdict had been passed.

Allegedly, this meeting was arranged by the HDZ legal experts, Vladimir Seks and Miro Separovic. Turudic was escorted to the Premier through the back entrance, to avoid anyone from seeing. There he was told that they apologized for suspecting his honour when they did not protect him from the blackmail of the British agents, who had written that Petrac had corrupted him. Premier Sanader allegedly told him that he could prove his honour by convicting Petrac, and that he would give the judge his support were he to run for president of the Zagreb County Court. I didn’t believe that story then, just as I do not believe it now. Namely, I cannot comprehend that someone in the government would be so rotten so as to play with people’s lives in this way, and I cannot comprehend that one man, such as Turudic, would bow down before the government so soon after they refused to defend him from the unfounded British attacks. Just the same, I do not believe a handful of opposition leaders who told me that the Premier had told them at a meeting at the time of the first ruling that an acquittal for Petrac had been prevented at the last moment.

If this is the truth, then it is clear to me why Petrac was convicted then. But why be convicted now, when the situation has been cleared up? Did someone forget to inform the “judge” that the rules of the game had changed since last year? Or are the others right – those who claim that I am naïve and stupid for not seeing that “judge” Turudic has grand ambitions of sitting in the Supreme Court, particularly since Vesna Skare-Ozbolt ruined his plans to run the Zagreb County Court. Regardless, all the events in the Petrac case will one day come to light, and them many will be ashamed. Though perhaps I am naïve even now. Those people have no shame – they only have an overwhelming sense of looking out for their own interests.