The Hearing of Suspected Professors Has Begun

The first suspects in the Index case have been brought in for questioning at the investigative center of the Zagreb County Court along with criminal charges. Accompanied by the police, who have conducted a criminal investigation over the past 48 hours, the first group of suspects was brought to the investigative center on Zrinjevac by police vans at noon at the rear entrance of the County Court building.

As announced yesterday by the spokesperson of the Police Directorate, Krunoslav Borovec, the apprehension of the suspects will last all day. Due to the large number of suspects, four judges will be questioning them, as learned from the deputy spokesperson of the court, Ratko Ščekić. After the questioning, the investigative judges need to decide whom among the criminally charged will be detained for 48 hours and whom will be released. For those who will be detained, USKOK must submit an investigative request within the next two days. It is currently unknown how many individuals will be brought before the investigative judge and for what criminal offenses they will be charged. HTV unofficially learns that around 50 individuals will be accused. The media speculate that some university professors from four Zagreb faculties and one higher education institution will be suspected only of abuse of position and authority, but not for accepting bribes for enrollment in faculties and taking exams. USKOK and the police clarified yesterday that some of those apprehended in the largest anti-corruption action to date were released from police custody yesterday because there were no legal grounds for their further detention.

However, as stated, criminal charges will subsequently be filed against some of those individuals. The total number of those charged will be known by the end of the day after the questioning of the last suspect. How long the interrogations with the investigative judges will last depends on whether the apprehended individuals will remain silent or present a defense. The Index action involves 105 individuals. Yesterday, there were 61 individuals under police processing, the majority of whom were professors, intermediaries, and students, with a smaller number being parents and faculty officials. The Association of Court Reporters of the Croatian Journalists’ Society reacted sharply to the police’s accusations of possible leaks of information about the Index action from the Zagreb County Court, indirectly implicating the permanent news reporters from that court.

If the court reporters at that court had learned anything concrete about the start of this anti-corruption action, they would certainly have published it in their media, and not just one newspaper would have had the opportunity to follow the police from the early morning start of the Index, it is emphasized in the statement from the Association of Court Reporters of the HND. Reporters who follow the work of the Zagreb County Court daily are witnesses to numerous arrivals of police officers at the court seeking court orders for searches. Thus, with a little mathematics, it can be concluded that the police are conducting some extensive work.

When the arrivals of prosecutors or USKOK couriers, including its director, become more frequent, the situation becomes even clearer to those familiar with the events at the court. Since we are not obliged by law to disclose our sources, we ask that we not be publicly pressured to do so, concludes the statement sent on behalf of the Association of Court Reporters by president Ana Raić-Knežević. (HRT)