Murder of the Zec family

The murder of the Zec family occurred in Zagreb, Croatia on December 7, 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence, when the squad of five Croatian militiamen with government support shot dead three members of an ethnic Serb Zec family: the father Mihajlo Zec, his wife Marija and their 12-year-old daughter Aleksandra. The murderers were apprehended, but were released after a most dubious court decision in 1992. After a long period of apparent negligence and cover-up, the Zec family murder was never addressed by the Croatian legal system, but the government agreed to compensate the surviving family members in a 2004 court settlement. In the meantime, the main perpetrators of this murder were given extended prison sentences on separate similar crimes.

Murder

In the evening around 11:00pm on 7 December 1991, in the Zec family home in Zagreb, Croatia, a group of five people: Siniša Rimac, Munib Suljić, Igor Mikola, Nebojša Hodak and Suzana Živanović, invaded the premises with the intention to arrest Mihajlo Zec, a butcher by profession and the father of the family, because of his alleged links with rebel Krajina Serbs.

Four of the men were members of Tomislav Merčep's paramilitary unit, reserve units of the Croatian Ministry of Internal Affairs.^[1] In a later leak of President Franjo Tuđman's transcripts, Merčep was quoted in 1995 as telling Tuđman how the murder was ordered by one of his comrades Zvonimir Trusić, who in turn was, according to Merčep, subordinated to the then Minister of Foreign Affairs Zvonimir Šeparović and then-Minister of the Interior Ivan Vekić. This testimony was never investigated by a court.^[2]

Mihajlo Zec ran out on the street, and tried to escape, but Siniša Rimac shot him from a distance of thirty meters.^[3] After that, they tied up his daughter Aleksandra Zec and her mother Marija Zec, threw them into a van with no license plates and drove to the mountain lodge on the Medvednica mountain.

Aleksandra's sister Gordana Zec and brother Dušan Zec, managed to survive by hiding around the house, and soon fled to their grandmother located in Banja Luka, Republika Srpska.

Once on Sljeme, Aleksandra and Marija were killed and dumped into a pit of garbage. Subsequent investigations revealed that Siniša Rimac, who had previously killed her father, sought that Aleksandra would not be killed, but all others were against it, because she was a witness. Aleksandra was murdered by being shot in head with an automatic rifle Heckler & Koch, by Munib Suljić.^[3]

Investigation

Just a few days after the crime, the police arrested the perpetrators, and during the early investigation they admitted to the liquidation and described it in detail. However, these confessions were made without the presence of their lawyers. This major procedural error meant that there were no legal witnesses of executions.^[1][3]

There were however testimonies of witnesses who saw Siniša Rimac kill Mihajlo Zec. Others testified that Igor Mikola had confessed to the killing.^[2] Police expertise at the time proved that the weapons seized from the accused was identical to those used to commit the murder. The forensic examination of the perpetrators' van proved that it was used to transport Aleksandra Zec and her mother, Marija Zec. The County Court in Zagreb did not take any of this into account^[2] and rendered a verdict of not guilty.^[3] On February 19, 1992, the Supreme Court of Croatia reviewed the case.^[2] On July 9, 1992, the County Court in Zagreb rendered another not-guilty verdict,^[3] leading to the murderers' release.^[3]

The judicial system of the Republic of Croatia was later vehemently criticized for this miserable failure, as the most prominent legal experts argued the verdict was far-fetched and included a highly dubious interpretation of legal provisions,^[4] while strong political pressure was exerted on the court.^[1]

Aftermath

After their release, Suljić and Hodak maintained a life of crime that was extensively covered in the newspapers, while Siniša Rimac became one of the bodyguards of the late Minister of Defence Gojko Šušak and in fact progressed to a very high rank in the Croatian army.^[3] Igor Mikola escaped the limelight by moving to Herzegovina, while Suzana Živković practically disappeared.

On 30 May 1995, Siniša Rimac received the Order of Nikola Šubić Zrinski, a high recognition for war-time heroism, awarded by the former president Franjo Tuđman. Part of the Croatian political scene saw this as an affirmation of the Zec murder and desirable behavior.^[2] According to the Croatian weekly magazine Nacional, the key political protection to killers was extended by president Tuđman himself. Allegedly, in 1992 Stjepan Mesić requested from president Tuđman for the case to be resolved as soon as possible, but Tuđman replied: "Let it be, maybe I will still need those guys".^[5]

The so-called Zec case (Croatian: Slučaj Zec) became well known in Croatian media after being reported by numerous non-governmental organizations and publicized by numerous newspapers and several television programmes.

Journalist Davor Butković stated that Vladimir Šeks, who at the time of the original trial was a public prosecutor of Republic of Croatia, admitted to him that he was ashamed of the Zec case, and that he felt guilty because the killers were not punished.^[3] In 2004, Šeks told Nacional's Berislav Jelinić he was sorry, but was not actually responsible.^[2]

In 2005, Munib Suljić, Igor Mikola and Siniša Rimac were convicted for murder of an unknown citizen named Saša (who was in fact one Aleksandar Antić) in the so-called "Pakračka poljana" case, where the same unit committed numerous crimes against other Serbs of Croatia near Pakrac in 1991.^[6][7] That case was first brought to trial in 1997, but went through several court instances in 1999 and 2001.^[6] Suljić, the first shooter in that case, eventually received a sentence of 10 years. Siniša Rimac was sentenced to eight years.^[7] Igor Mikola was convicted as an accessory to murder as well as the illegal detention and extortion of Miloš Ivošević, Radom Pajić and Marko Grujić, and sentenced to five years in prison. Two other men were convicted of the latter crime with Mikola. After the verdict, Siniša Rimac was arrested, while Suljić and Mikola failed to appear at the sentencing.^[6]

A year earlier, Igor Mikola was extradited from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Croatia after serving a 27-month prison sentence in the Zenica prison for attempted extortion of one Mladen Žulj, owner of a gas station in Grude.^[8]

Nebojša Hodak was sentenced in June 2005 to one year in prison in an unrelated case of attempted extortion.^[9]

Munib Suljić had personally surrendered to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague in June 2006. He was extradited to Croatia to serve his 12-year prison sentence, but died in a prison hospital in Svetošimunska street in Zagreb on 25 August 2006.^[10]

Compensation to surviving family members

The surviving brother Dušan Zec and little sister Gordana Zec sued the Republic of Croatia through the Croatian attorneys Ante Nobilo and Mara Mihočević. Near the end of the court case in the spring of 2004 the Ivo Sanader government agreed to a settlement and compensation of 1,500,000 Croatian kuna.^[2]

There are initiatives to call a street in Zagreb after Aleksandra Zec, as prominent individuals such as the writer Zoran Ferić seek to raise a monument to her.^[11]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Impunity for unlawful killings and extrajudicial executions allegedly committed by members of the Croatian Army and police forces". A shadow on Croatia's future: Continuing impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Amnesty International / UNHCR. 2004-12-13. pp. 9–10. http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/pdfid/42ae98ac0.pdf. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} "Sanader odlučio: obitelj Zec obeštetiti kao moralni čin" (in Croatian). Nacional. 27 April 2004. http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/10975/sanader-odlucio-obitelj-zec-obestetiti-kao-moralni-cin. Retrieved 2011-05-11. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} "Hladnokrvno ubojstvo" (in Croatian). Jutarnji list. 24 April 2004. http://www.jutarnji.hr/hladnokrvno-ubojstvo/7348/. Retrieved 2011-05-11. 
4. ^ Željka Godeč (18 January 2011). "Božica (ne) pravde" (in Croatian). Globus. http://globus.jutarnji.hr/hrvatska/bozica-nepravde. Retrieved 2011-05-11. 
5. ^ "Tuđman štitio ubojice Mihajla, Marije i Aleksandre Zec?" (in Croatian). Index.hr. 27 April 2004. http://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/tudjman-stitio-ubojice-mihajla-marije-i-aleksandre-zec/198931.aspx. Retrieved 2011-05-11. 
6. ^ ^{a b c} "Optuženici krivi za slučaj Pakračka poljana" (in Croatian). Index.hr. 15 September 2005. http://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/optuzenici-krivi-za-slucaj-pakracka-poljana/282856.aspx. Retrieved 2011-05-11. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "Osuđeni ubojica Siniša Rimac želi biti otac" (in Croatian). T-portal.hr. 9 January 2010. http://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/50785/Osudeni-ubojica-Sinisa-Rimac-zeli-biti-otac.html. Retrieved 2011-05-11. 
8. ^ "Igor Mikola izručen Hrvatskoj" (in Croatian). Nacional. 28 April 2006. http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/15929/igor-mikola-izrucen-hrvatskoj. Retrieved 2011-05-11. 
9. ^ "Mesić odbio pomilovati Sobjeslavskog i Grandića" (in Croatian). Dnevnik.hr. Nova TV (Croatia). 19 December 2006. http://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/mesic-odbio-pomilovati-sobjeslavskog-i-grandica.html. Retrieved 2011-05-11. 
10. ^ "Umro Munib Suljić" (in Croatian). Nacional. 28 August 2006. http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/27318/umro-munib-suljic. Retrieved 2011-05-11. 
11. ^ "Zoran Ferić: Spomenik Aleksandri Zec" (in Croatian). Nacional. 19 January 2010. http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/75966/spomenik-aleksandri-zec. Retrieved 2011-05-11. 

External links

• Potpredsjednica Vlade Kosor primila članove obitelji Zec - Vijesti.net - Index.hr (Croatian)