ZAGREB, March 30 (Hina) - The national alliance of Homeland War associations welcomes the adoption of its initiative to change the law regulating the rights of Homeland War soldiers and their families and expects the amended law to
protect every soldier, the head of the Association of Volunteer Homeland War Veterans, Djuro Decak, said at a news conference on Tuesday.
ZAGREB, March 30 (Hina) - The national alliance of Homeland War
associations welcomes the adoption of its initiative to change the law
regulating the rights of Homeland War soldiers and their families and
expects the amended law to protect every soldier, the head of the
Association of Volunteer Homeland War Veterans, Djuro Decak, said at a
news conference on Tuesday.#L#
The head of the Association of Croatian Homeland War Volunteers,
Tomislav Mercep, said that a bill was being drafted to regulate the
rights of Homeland War soldiers and that it would be presented in
three months' time.
The alliance of Homeland War associations expects the Veterans'
Ministry to urgently adopt a plan to speed up the employment and
re-training of former soldiers and the ministries of defence and
interior to provide for dismissed employees, the associations'
representatives said.
The alliance is closely following the exhumation of mass graves in
formerly occupied areas and expects the government to take necessary
measures to punish the perpetrators of the crimes, as well as those
who authorised the relocation of mass graves, Decak said.
He said that the alliance did not address activities regarding the war
crimes tribunal in The Hague or the cases of generals Ivan Cermak and
Mladen Markac, because it was expecting a decision on their request to
be released pending trial.
"We deeply believe that they will be able to defend the values of the
Homeland War without being detained," Decak said, adding that the
tribunal was a political court.
Asked why there were no protests against Markac's and Cermak's
transfer to the tribunal, Tomislav Mercep said this was a
demonstration of political maturity and belief that grave accusations
should be challenged.
Answering a reporter's question, he said that he was not under
investigation by the tribunal and that reports to that effect were
spread by some political circles and published in "Glas Slavonije"
daily, which he said was controlled by Branimir Glavas.
(Hina) rml