Kuzmanovic to Sue Croatia for Stay in Custody

Milenko Kuzmanovic was charged without evidence for being supposed to help the Matanic brothers escape, who where murder suspects.

Milenko Kuzmanovic is one of the people arrested because of suspicions that they were in some way linked to the assassination of Ivo Pukanic and Niko Franjic. He was held in custody for 55 days and then released, and has now filed a law suit against Croatia.

“I have hired lawyers in Serbia and Croatia, and I can confirm that my Croatian lawyers filed a constitutional law suit today because I, as an innocent person, spent 55 days in prison” said Kuzmanovic. He added that the damages Croatia would pay him are no so important, but that the paper is important that would state that Croatia made a mistake in his case, which he will one day frame and hang on his wall.

Kuzmanovic was arrested in the parking lot of the rest area “Spacva” on October 29, around 6:25pm, where he was to meet with Robert Matanic, who is suspected of participating in the murder of Ivo Pukanic.

According to the information that Kuzmanovic gave us, he only had to give power of attorney papers from his Serbian lawyer to him, but instead of Matanic, at the Spacva parking lot he was awaited by around 20 special police. Robert and his cousin Luka Matanic were arrested around one hour earlier, together with the (current) first suspect for the murder of Pukanic and Franjic, Slobodan Djurovic. Only after approaching Zagreb he found out why he was arrested, after being beaten in the mean time, and then he spent a long 55 days in custody.

Even though during the investigation he was charged with bringing Djurovic into Croatia, and was one of the logistic people for Matanic’s escape from Croatia, the evidence proved the opposite and Kuzmanic was released.

However, the long custody is only one of the reasons which prompted Kuzmanovic to file a suit against Croatia.

“I have always said that Serbia is a banana state, but after what I experienced in Croatia, I have changed my mind. During the custody, I was not allowed to defend myself at any time, I requested that I be questioned on the polygraph, but they rejected it saying that there was no need. When I was brought before the investigating judge Jadranka Mandusic, I was not asked any questions related to the case I was arrested for, and it was already decided that my custody would be extended, more precisely, during my statement the order for my stay in custody was already on her table” said Kuzmanovic.

Because all of that, he said, his name has been forever soiled, and two months in custody cost him his job.

Damages for suffering in custody

“My lawyers say that they will seek damages for everything that I suffered in custody, and there is the fact that whilst I was in custody I could not earn money, and in the end I lost my job. However, as I said, that is not important to me, it is important to me that Croatia admits that they made a mistake in my case. They held me for 55 days without any evidence of guilt, and it seems, but I stress that this is my opinion, that the same will happen with Djurovic and Matanic. Honestly, I would not be at all surprised if they leave soon, if we look at my example and the example of Elvis Hadzic” concluded Kuzmanovic.

Also, he added, he has still not received his mobile phones that were taken during the arrest, even though he had to get them upon leaving custody. According to his knowledge, and this was said to him by the investigator whilst in custody, his mobile phones were searched a long time ago, the contents recorded, and Kuzmanovic was freed of any involvement in the assassination of Pukanic and Franjic.

“The order according to which my temporarily confiscated belongings need to be returned, which is this case are my mobile phones, still have not been issued. They have all of the contents from those phones, and have long since said that they no longer need them. I tried to contact the investigating judge Mandusic, but every time I call the County Court, she was either not there or busy. Those are not any expensive mobile phones or anything, but it is a thing of principle, they are mine” stressed Kuzmanovic.