ZAGREB, January 15, 2019 – The parliamentary Domestic Policy and National Security Committee did not conclude that the SOA (Security and Intelligence Agency) committed any abuse in the treatment of former presidential advisor Mate Radeljić, chairman Ranko Ostojić said after a committee meeting on Tuesday.
With two votes against, the committee endorsed an oversight report by the office of the National Security Council and took note of a report by SOA, and we did not conclude that SOA committed any abuse, Ostojić told reporters.
He said the Radeljić case was over for the committee. “Everything he may wish to present as his truth, Radeljić could have done so at the DORH prosecution office.”
Ostojić said Radeljić was not invited to the committee meeting given the committee’s powers. The committee can oversee SOA but we don’t have the right to be an inquiry commission, he added.
Radeljić’s dismissal as the presidential advisor on domestic affairs caused a storm on the political scene. After being fired in December, he said in a press release he was informed about his dismissal by the SOA director’s chief of staff, Davor Franić, in a Zagreb coffee shop. Radeljić claimed he was threatened that he would be run over by a car and that he was told “the service will protect the president in every sense” from his possible actions after the dismissal. He also claimed President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović told him he did not fit her plans because he was an obstacle in her relations with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.
Radeljić’s claims were dismissed by both the president’s office and SOA.
A few days ago, SOA director Danijel Markić resolutely dismissed the claims that SOA had threatened anyone. “We don’t do that, the service doesn’t make death threats,” he said, denying that the Radeljić-Franić meeting took place.
Markić attended today’s meeting of the Domestic Policy and National Security Committee but did not speak to the press.
More news on the national security issues can be found in the Politics section.
