ZAGREB, April 16, 2019 - Commenting on a criminal complaint filed against the deputy speaker of parliament and deputy leader of the ruling HDZ party, Milijan Brkić, in the so-called false text messages case, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Tuesday that the principle of presumption of innocence should apply to all citizens.
"I have no comment. I can only say that the principle under which anyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty must always apply to all citizens of Croatia, including politicians," Grabar-Kitarović told reporters.
She said she could not interfere in the work of judicial authorities.
Police said on Monday they had brought charges against Milijan Brkić, his brother, and Franjo Varga and Blaz Curić, two suspects in the fake text messages case, for committing cybernetic offences against several persons.
According to media reports, Brkić was questioned last week for intercepting his former wife's emails by using the services of Franjo Varga, a former Interior Ministry IT expert accused in the fake texts case.
Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković said on Tuesday that he did not have enough information about the case of Deputy Speaker Milijan Brkić.
When asked by the press if Brkić should step down as Deputy Parliament Speaker considering the criminal report against him, Jandroković said: "At this moment, I don't have enough information to be able to answer that question, I expect that in the coming days we will learn what the case is about and then we will discuss the matter and see how to proceed."
He added that he had not talked to Brkić yet but would when the time came.
Jandroković resolutely dismissed claims that state institutions are being used for intra-party conflicts. "I can say with certainty that they are not being used for that nor is there any evidence of that. If someone has evidence of abuse of state institutions for political score-settling, they should submit it," Jandroković told reporters after a session of the Parliament Presidency.
Responding to a reporter's remark that Brkić himself had accused police and state institutions of trying to frame him, Jandroković said that Brkić's accusations were serious and that they would "most definitely" have to discuss them. "However, it is still too early to talk about it because I don't have all the information on the criminal report. Once I have more information, I will be able to give a better answer," said Jandroković.
He would not give a straightforward answer when asked if the affair was harming the HDZ. "We will see what the coming days will bring, at the moment I don't know what the charges are about and I cannot say more," he said, adding that as the HDZ's secretary-general he had not talked to Brkić yet. "We will talk most definitely, when the time comes," he added.
Asked if one would have to wait for a regular parliament session or call an early one if a request was made to strip Brkić of immunity as a member of parliament, Jandroković said that those were hypothetical questions which he could not answer at present.
Social Democratic Party (SDP) whip Arsen Bauk on Tuesday did not want to predict the "political future and judicial fate," of Brkić, claiming that HDZ "is obviously using certain institutions to send messages to individuals."
"As far as his further political future and judicial fate is concerned, we will see how that will unravel," Bauk told reporters commenting on the criminal complaint against Brkić. “How does the saying go (...) 'something is rotten in the country of Denmark.' It is obvious that HDZ is using certain institutions to send messages to individuals. That is the perception. We will see what will come of that," Bauk underscored.
The MOST party's political secretary Nikola Grmoja said today that this was an internal HDZ party dispute and that MOST did not intend to occupy itself with HDZ's scandals. If we were to occupy ourselves with HDZ's scandals, we wouldn't have time for anything else. MOST will focus on its proposals during the EP election campaign, he added.
More news on Milijan Brkić can be found in the Politics section.
