Glavas and the HDSSB

[Ribaric]

I'm clearly missing a trick or two here, can anyone clear up a few things for me here please?

Branimir Glavas, a former MP, was convicted in Croatia of acts of genocide he and others committed during the home war. He ran off to BiH to escape imprisonment here and immediately secured himslef a BiH passport but (somehow) has "elected" to serve some kind of sentence there.

Now, his party, HDSSB want him to stand as their elected representative in the forth-coming general election. Meantime, he is often pictured in newspapers and shown on TV walking around in a suit, I don't know where he does this but he sure isn't in a 4x3 jail cell.

What have I got wrong? Is he a jailed killer or a prospective parliamentary candidate?... Or both?

[gmh]

He's in jail in Mostar, serving 8 years for war crimes, but some how he can still run in the Croatian elections.
Nothing unusual about that surely.

[Madgolfer]

[Madgolfer]

The European Commission has declined to comment on the opinion of the Croatian State Election Commission (DIP) that Branimir Glavas can head the slates of the Croatian Democratic Party of Slavonia and Baranja (HDSSB) in the forthcoming parliamentary elections but that he cannot run as a candidate for a seat in the next parliament, while the Constitutional Court later said that he could neither head the slates nor run in the election.

The European Commission does not comment on how political parties choose their candidates and nominate them on their election slates. It is within the jurisdiction of the election commission and the Croatian legal system, said the European Enlargement Commissioner's spokesman, Peter Stano, in response to reporters' questions in Brussels on Monday.

The spokesman said that the Commission would follow the elections as part of the monitoring of Croatia's efforts to fulfil political criteria.

As for war crimes prosecution, that issue will be under scrutiny as part of the monitoring of the Judiciary and Fundamental Rights policy chapter, he added.

Last Tuesday, HDSSB President Vladimir Sisljagic asked the State Election Commission to say whether Glavas, the HDSSB founder who is currently serving a prison term in Bosnia and Herzegovina for his role in war crimes in Osijek in the early 1990s, could exercise his passive voting rights by being the head of the HDSSB slates and whether he could be an HDSSB candidate in the 4 December election for the new parliament.

Two days later, DIP said that the HDSSB slates could be identified by the name of Glavas as the head of those slates but that he could not run in the election.

The Constitutional Court overruled DIP's decision, explaining that it did not provide for the protection of the Croatian constitutional state and raised an unacceptable possibility from the point of view of constitutional law.


GLAD WE CLEARED THAT UP!

[crojoe]

Nov 14, 2011 11:18:44 GMT 1 Ribaric said:

I'm clearly missing a trick or two here, can anyone clear up a few things for me here please?

Branimir Glavas, a former MP, was convicted in Croatia of acts of genocide he and others committed during the home war. He ran off to BiH to escape imprisonment here and immediately secured himslef a BiH passport but (somehow) has "elected" to serve some kind of sentence there.

Now, his party, HDSSB want him to stand as their elected representative in the forth-coming general election. Meantime, he is often pictured in newspapers and shown on TV walking around in a suit, I don't know where he does this but he sure isn't in a 4x3 jail cell.

What have I got wrong? Is he a jailed killer or a prospective parliamentary candidate?... Or both?

They all have "blood" on their hands, some just more then others. But, Croatia is very special in that no matter if you killed someone, fleeced the state coffers, beat up your business rivals or spent time in jail you can run for parliament or even try being the PM. You may remember that guy that went to jail for a while, and almost the next day he got out he was back in Parliament. There is that other fellow who killed some people while driving in Hungary and he still has his job. The Varasdin new major got caught drink driving and nothing happens and now this jailed war criminal (obviously he isn't innocent) guy is about the run for a parliament seat. The list goes on and on. Most likely when Sanadar gets out he will go back to politics.