"Those people do not care about Gotovina, but are doing it for other reasons, possibly only out of self-promotion," Sanader told reporters at a ceremony opening a school sports hall in Kravarsko, a village about 30 kilometres south of Zagreb.
"The Croatian government knows what is the best for Croatia, and I appeal to everyone to keep their cool and their presence of mind and to have confidence in the government," the prime minister said.
"The Croatian government knows what to do and how to defend the truth about the Homeland War," he said, adding that the Ministry of Justice had been preparing for that for years.
"The truth is that Croatia was attacked and that it was the victim of aggression. We had the right to defend ourselves and liberate the country. If someone dared do it again, Croatia would again defend and liberate itself. That is the only truth," Sanader said.
Asked how the government would help General Gotovina, Sanader said that he could not discuss all forms of assistance, but that the government would help Gotovina and all other Croatian nationals indicted by the Hague war crimes tribunal in various ways and would be involved in the trial in its capacity as a friend of the court.