Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Ivanisevic Weighs in on Extradition of Criminals in Hague

No comment
Thursday July 12 1:42 PM ET 
 Ivanisevic Weighs in on Extradition
 By EUGENE BRCIC, Associated Press Writer 
 ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) - Tennis champion Goran Ivanisevic joined 10 other of
Croatia's top athletes
 Thursday in denouncing the government's decision to hand over Croat war
crimes suspects to a U.N.
 tribunal.
 The sportsmen's initiative was expected to increase pressure on Prime
Minister Ivica Racan's
 government as it seeks to mend rifts in the shaky five-party coalition
caused by the indictments.
 In an open letter to Croatia's government, parliament and public, the
athletes said: ``Our human and moral
 obligation to our greatest heroes does not allow us to remain silent''
about the extraditions.
 Besides Ivanisevic, the letter was signed by Croatia's 1998 bronze
medal-winning World Cup soccer stars
 Aljosa Asanovic, Slaven Bilic, Igor Stimac, Zvonimir Boban and Davor
Suker, as well as former NBA
 basketball players Dino Radja and Stojko Vrankovic.
 Ivanisevic on Monday won Wimbledon (news - web sites), the prestigious
Grand Slam tennis title, setting
 off widespread celebrations in Croatia.
 Prosecutors with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague (news - web
sites), Netherlands disclosed
 last week that they were seeking two unidentified Croat citizens for war
crimes against Serbs, demanding
 that Croatia hand them over to the tribunal.
 The government reluctantly announced that it was bound by international
agreements and would deliver
 the men, widely believed to be generals Rahim Ademi and Ante Gotovina.
 The weekend decision caused a backlash in Croatia, with veteran groups
threatening to stage protests
 and erect barricades on main roads.
 Croats widely believe they were the victims of rebel minority Serbs who
fought an armed struggle against
 Croatia's independence. More than 10,000 Croats died in the fighting and
hundreds of thousands were
 expelled from their homes. In a 1995 military campaign, government troops
recaptured one-third of
 Croatian territory seized by ethnic Serbs, supported by the Yugoslav army,
in the 1991 war.
 ``We are political laymen, but we are reasonable people and sportsmen who
are sensitive to injustice,''
 said the letter, which is expected to appear in Friday's newspapers.
 ``Evidently there is an effort to distort historical facts as to who was
the victim and who was the
 aggressor'' in the 1991 Croatian war for independence.
 While voicing some understanding for Croatian leaders who said they are
obliged to pledge cooperation
 with the U.N. tribunal, the signers denounced the ``unfair treatment'' of
Croatia by the court.
 Racan, whose government faces a confidence vote in parliament Sunday, said
the athletes were
 misinformed and had apparently been exploited by someone, although he did
not say by whom.
 ``I regret that it has come to this,'' Racan told The Associated Press on
Thursday. ``Some of these stars
 were absent from the country when we explained the trying circumstances
under which our decision was
 made.''
 If Racan's 18-month-old Cabinet fails to win 76 hands in the 151-seat
chamber, the country will face new
 elections. 

 
Such bullshit, read the floowing article to understand what some of
these "sportsman" are all about:
Igor Stimac in Penalty Kick Area
by Vladimir MATIJANIC
Feral Tribune, Split, Croatia, December 2, 2000
Igor Stimac, the well known Croatian soccer player, a Croatian
national team player, restaurateur and bookie, the owner of the Split
night club Masters Club, was in 1992 questioned by the Police because
of his links with the group of troublemakers who had placed explosive
devices in offices, commercial spaces, and cars of the residents of
Split, mostly ethnic Serbs. Although statements of some participants
in that case incriminate Stimac, in his statement to the Police he
tried to reduce his role in the explosions, although there is no doubt
that he knew quite a lot about the nighttime dynamite actions
throughout Split and that some of them were even planned in his
company.
He incriminated well-known soccer player L.B. saying that L.B. had
links with car and weapons smugglers and resellers and traded with
tear gas. In his statement Stimac denies many of the charges, but it
is interesting that he did not find it necessary to deny that he knew
who were the culprits behind nighttime explosions. Moreover, he
admitted that in his presence they boasted with their deeds, but he
did not find it appropriate to at least report them to the Police. One
of the reasons is definitely the personal nature of Stimac's link with
the terrorists: namely, L.B. who appears to be the leader of that
group was the godfather of Stimac's child, and L.O., an important
member of the group, is Stimac's relative.
Kastel Connection
Stimac's name is mentioned therefore in the investigation against
persons who were at first suspected as perpetrators of ten nighttime
explosions in Split. Excluding one, which took place on May 22, 1991,
all the others took place in November and December 1991. The Police,
which at the time still professionally processed similar cases, in
April 1992 filed charges against Split residents L.O. and F.Z.. Soon
afterwards F.Z. died so that on April 23 1993 an indictment was issued
against L.O. and L.B., already mentioned godfather of Stimac's child,
and for the explosions in the store Princes, placing of explosive
under car Zastava 128 owned by Split resident T.S., and a bomb attack
on the butcher's shop in Mazuranic's Setaliste which took place on
December 14 and 15, while the Police gave up prosecution for other six
explosions because late F.Z. was blamed for them.
Stimac's name was mentioned for the first time by L.B. in his
statement given to the Police on February 10, 1992. This is an
interesting statement. Besides explaining when and where he met the
second accused, L.B. talks about the motive for nighttime terrorist
actions in Split: "About a year and a half ago, at the wedding of
soccer player Igor Stimac I met his cousin L.O.. I had a chance to get
to know him even better during the baptism of Stimac's child in
Medjugorje."
L.B. then revealed that he personally inspired the blowing up of the
car belonging to his relative T.S., "who also lives in Split and who
is a Serb," because "I had neither a chance nor courage do something
to him on my own"; L.B. then said that L.O. and F.Z., otherwise
members of the Croatian Army, "did the job". However, after the first
explosion "there was not that much damage", so that the same persons a
month later planted explosive under the same car.
The other bomb attacks followed the same "rules". The group would sit
in a caf&#1048; and talk about the stores that should be blown up
because their owners were Serbs. L.B. again mentions Stimac, this time
as the person with whom he traveled to Metkovic, where he met N.O. and
V.T.. Then, L.O. reveals how he got the automatic rifle Kalashnikov
from J.B. who was at the time the Chief of the Second Police Station.
Namely, L.O. "complained on one occasion" to the Police Chief that he
did not have a weapon, so that J.B. pulled an automatic rifle from a
case in the storage room of the Second Police Station and gave it to
L.B.. In the continuation of his statement, L.B. says the following:
"In the spring of 1991 on two occasions I went with Igor Stimac to
Kastel Sucurac to see certain L.K.. Igor told me that he was supposed
to get a weapon from that guy. We could not find him the first time,
while second time he was there in a caf&#1048;. Igor talked with him
and I remembered from that conversation when K. said 'for now there's
nothing, but weapons should arrive soon...'"
The following situation is yet another illustration of the sort of
company in which "fiery" Igor moved: "At about 9pm Igor Stimac called
me on the phone and asked me to a dinner at Peka... I came to
restaurant Peka and there met L.O., F.Z. with two girls, V.T., N.O.
and Igor Stimac..."
Fake Documents
In the continuation of the trial L.B. says the following: "At first,
that is in early 1991, one could make a lot of money by selling tear
gas in Split. On one occasion I talked by phone to K.L. who lives in
Germany and asked him to send several hundred tear gas spray bottles.
He really sent 600 spray bottles in original packaging in a cardboard
box... I sold those spray bottles in Split at DM10 a pop. Thus, on one
occasion I gave to Igor Stimac about 100 pieces that he intended to
sell in Metkovic... As far as I remember, Stimac sold only some of
those spray bottles, while he paid me DM400. I do not know what
happened with the rest of those bottles..."
"You want to know about car smuggling. I can tell you that I know a
bit about that business. For example my best man Igor Stimac bought a
Mercedes, which was probably 'illegal', probably because it was cheap.
He paid DM24,000 for it, and sold it for DM22,000 to someone I do not
know. V.M. from Gabela probably does this type of work. He steals cars
and later sells them. Stimac was together with me on one occasion. I
also remember the time Stimac and I went to see V.M. but did not find
him at home... Igor Stimac sold a car with fake documents for very
little money and N.O. can also confirm all of this," L.B. relates in
his statement.
B.B. a restaurateur from Solin, who also hung out with the bombers,
gave two statements to the Police, on January 31 1992 and February 5,
1992. In the first statement he says: "After the arrival to restaurant
Peka I encountered between 12 and 14 persons of whom I only knew J.P.,
J.B., L.B. and Igor Stimac, who plays soccer for Hajduk." B.B. states
that he knows for certain that "that evening was used for J.P.'s
payment toL.B. for his services - blowing up of Vegas' stores,"
because that bomb attack, it seems was a rather radical method of
dealing with competition... That took place on January 26, 1992. The
witness recalls that a day later he went to a gambling parlor in Split
where he "found L.B. and his bombers, including Igor Stimac."
In the second official Police record put together after the
questioning of B.B. on February 5, 1992, it is mentioned that B.B.
stated that he had reported "organized crime (smuggling of weapons,
military equipment, car theft, resale, bombing of competition...).
This crime is organized by J.P., S.P., L.B., Igor Stimac..."
Trip to Posusje
Finally on February 9, 1992, the Police questioned Igor Stimac in the
Split Police regarding "circumstances of several committed crimes,
illegal trade with weapons and equipment, endangerment of people and
property and dangerous acts in general". Stimac mostly recalled
hanging out with already mentioned persons and shared dinners in
restaurant Peka. In addition he stated: "I remember that on one
occasion L.B. told me that some store in Marmontova St. had been blown
up. He said: 'We blew up that thing in Marmontova St.'. He said that
it seemed that the bomb had not been placed properly and that L.O. and
F.Z. would have to do that job again. Once I went down Marmontova St.
and out of curiosity looked around to see if I would find a demolished
object. However, I did not notice anything... In a conversation I had
with my cousin L.O. and F.Z. I found out that they belonged to an
antiterrorist unit of the Croatian Army and that their task was to
blow up certain buildings. Almost all the time in their conversations
they repeated the story about Serbs as Chetniks, that they should be
blown up, expelled from Split because coexistence with them was
impossible."
Answering the question about tear gas Stimac confirmed that he knew
the channels used to bring tear gas to Croatia, but he did not admit
to taking the spray bottles and selling them. In the end, talking
about car smuggling, Stimac recalled that together with his cousin
N.O. he went to Mostar. "On the way back, N.O. suggested going to
Listica, and Posusje, respectively, so that we could inquire with the
local well-known resellers and smugglers of cars about a possible
purchase of a car for me. I remember that we visited F.B. who owns a
big stone house with a swimming pool. He had some cars, but he said
that they were not my kind. I then met his brother... They advised us
to go to Vranic in front of some restaurant where stolen and reworked
cars are sold publicly with original documents. I was scared by all
that and did not agree to make any deals," says Stimac.
By the way, F.B., Ferdo Busic, mentioned by Stimac in his statement,
later became one of frequently mentioned bit players in the Maglov
affair. However, as far as is known, he has never been charged with
anything.