"The author of the statement, who is obviously unfamiliar with the system or has mixed things up, is trying to create a dangerous impression of Croatia being a police state," Ministry spokesman Zlatko Mehun said in a statement.
He recalled that police activities were based on the Constitution, the Law on the Police and other regulations and that the primary task of the police was to protect Croatian citizens and their property.
Police activities in Croatia are legally and in reality separated from the operation of security and intelligence services, to which the PEN statement probably refers, Mehun said, calling on Croatian PEN Centre president Zvonko Makovic to issue a denial.