The police did not break the law or exceed their authority, but the whole case could have been handled in such a way as not to harm the reputation of the police or disabled war veterans, Kirin said.
The minister said that the raid could have been avoided altogether and that journalist Domagoj Margetic, who is indicted by the Hague war crimes tribunal, could have been thwarted before in his design to play in the HVIDRA offices a recording of protected testimony given before the tribunal by President Stjepan Mesic.
Kirin insisted that the police had not beaten up war veterans during the raid.
However, one of the HVIDRA members who had been arrested in the raid turned up at the press conference and called the minister a liar.
"The minister did not tell the truth nor did these gentlemen here (referring to police director Marijan Benko and state secretary Ivica Buconjic). The police did overstep their authority," Ante Jurendic said. "We were taken in as a criminal organisation, and we did not even think of putting up even passive resistance," he added.
Kirin responded by saying that he had asked HVIDRA to present its evidence to show that the police had acted against the law. He said that HVIDRA should have submitted the recording and thus make the work of the police easier.
Reiterating that he was only interested in the truth, Kirin said that the police would never again be used against war veterans as long as he was in office.
The minister said that Prsa's dismissal was only the first step in sorting out the situation in all police departments to ensure that superior officers start taking responsibility for orders they give. Other dismissals will follow once the internal investigation is over, he added.
Benko said that the police would pay special attention to training in order to avoid a repetition of the situation that occurred in the HVIDRA offices, and stressed that the police would certainly continue to enforce court orders.
Commenting on the announcement by Margetic that he would post the disputed testimony on his Internet site, Benko said that the police had already blocked access to the recording on that web page.
HVIDRA's Zagreb branch said at a press conference on Thursday it had pressed charges against chief of police Kresimir Sulc and three unidentified police officers for illegal search of premises, ill-treatment and causing bodily harm.