Nikica Jelavic, a former defendant in the trial of a Zagreb underworld criminal organisation who was acquitted of the charges, was released from the crime police headquarters (PNUSKOK) in Zagreb on Tuesday afternoon after he was detained for questioning on Monday afternoon.
According to Jelavic's lawyer Milenko Umicevic, the police interview focused on assaults on reporter Dusan Miljus and businessman Josip Galinec that occurred in Zagreb in 2008.
The lawyer said that his client ruled out any connection with the two incidents.
As regards the assault on Galinec, Jelavic said that he had been in Germany at that time, according to the lawyer.
As regards Miljus, Jelavic said that he had known him since childhood because they lived in the same residential area in Zagreb. Jelavic is grateful for Miljus's work as investigative journalist and thanks to Miljus, witnesses appeared whose testimonies helped Jelavic to be cleared of the charge of attempted murder of Vjeko Slisko, Umicevic said.
Jelavic was arrested at Zagreb's Pleso airport shortly after 4 pm on Monday after flying in from Sarajevo.
Police investigators on Tuesday morning continued questioning him.
This morning Umicevic would not reveal what the interview was about, saying only that his client was not charged with any crime and that he expected him to be released later in the day.
Police said two weeks ago they wanted to interview Jelavic as part of Operation Shock 3 in which two suspected attackers on Miljus and Galinec had been arrested.
In order to identify the people who commissioned the attacks on Miljus and Galinec, the police interviewed a number of people with ties to the Zagreb underworld. Suspects Djordje Vuletic and Darko Dakic are currently in 30-day custody for alleged attempted murder of Miljus and Galinec.
In the late 1990s, Jelavic, Vuletic and Zoran Pripuz were arrested on suspicion of forming a criminal organisation which was allegedly led by Jelavic. Jelavic was charged with murder of an innocent bystander and two attempted murders, and, together with Pripuz, with incitement to murder. The court ruled that there was no evidence to prove the existence of a criminal organisation and found five of the 12 accused guilty of drug trafficking and attempted murder. Jelavic, Pripuz and Vuletic were among those acquitted.
