Jailed Croat MP in hunger strike

Branimir Glavas says charges of war crimes are politically motivated

A member of Croatia's parliament has gone on hunger strike to protest against being detained on suspicion of war crimes.

Branimir Glavas was arrested on Thursday after parliament lifted his immunity from prosecution.

He is suspected of ordering the torture and killings of ethnic Serb civilians in the city of Osijek during Croatia's war of independence in the early 1990s.

Mr Glavas denies the allegations, saying they are politically motivated.

He has not yet been formally charged in the two cases being brought against him by state prosecutors.

Mr Glavas was in charge of Osijek's defence against rebel Serbs and the Yugoslav army in the early stages of the war when a number of Serbs were found dead in a local river with their hands and feet tied.

Six former soldiers were arrested on Saturday on suspicion of war crimes against Serbs in Osijek during the same period.