COURT RULING AGAINST SERB DRAGUTIN ĆELAP IN FABRICATED TRIAL

BELGRADE, JULY 17 /SRNA/ – The President of the Association of Serbs from the Region Miodrag Linta has assessed as deeply unjust and shameful the conviction of Krajina Serb Dragutin Ćelap /72/, handed down by the Zagreb County Court for the alleged killing of a Croatian civilian in 1991, saying the case was a fabricated trial based on a false witness.

"Numerous facts confirm that this is a classic fabricated trial aimed at justifying a false narrative according to which Serbs are exclusively perpetrators and Croats exclusively victims," Linta stated.

He said that Ćelap was convicted yesterday on the basis of a false statement by witness Milan Busić, a member of the Serb community who, according to available information, is a fraudster and violent offender who, among other things, had faced trial for the rape of a minor.

"For this reason, he was allegedly blackmailed by Croatian police into giving false testimony against Ćelap," Linta pointed out.

He added that Ćelap has meanwhile been charged with another alleged war crime, and that the prosecution's witness in that case is again Busić.

Linta called on Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujić to lodge the strongest possible protest with Croatian Justice Minister Damir Habijan over what he described as a biased, fabricated and scandalous first-instance verdict, and to request talks on the issue of war crimes trials.

The president of the Association of Serbs from the Region said that the conviction of Ćelap was one of a series of indications that the Croatian judiciary was ethnically motivated, according to a statement from the association.

"It is completely clear that Serbs accused of alleged war crimes do not receive a fair and impartial trial in Croatia. The aim is to secure as many convictions against Serbs as possible based on false statements by cooperating witnesses who have been blackmailed or bribed in order to justify the false myth of the `Homeland War,`" Linta pointed out.

Dragutin Ćelap, former president of the Independent Democratic Serb Party /SDSS/ branch in Topusko, was arrested in October 2024 on suspicion of allegedly committing a war crime - the killing of Croatian civilian Marko Matijević by firearm in Staro Selo near Topusko in the Kordun region in July 1991.

The Zagreb County Court on Wednesday sentenced Ćelap to 12 years in prison in a first-instance, non-final verdict.

Ćelap, who is being held in pre-trial detention, was not present when the verdict was delivered.