DEATH ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST CROATIAN HOMELAND WAR VICTIM MARKED

PLITVICE, April 1 (Hina) - The 13th anniversary of the death of the first Croatian police officer killed in the Homeland War, Josip Jovic, was marked on Thursday at Plitvice, where he was killed. Numerous state, military and war veterans' associations as well as Jovic's family laid wreaths, lit candles and paid their respects.#L# Jovic was killed on Easter, 31 March 1991, in an operation against Serb terrorists who blocked a road at Plitvice with logs and ambushed Croatian police who had come to help their colleagues surrounded in the local police station. Jovic was the first among many defenders who gave their lives for the country, said Jadranka Kosor, deputy prime minister and minister of the family, war veterans' affairs and inter-generation solidarity. "The Homeland War was just, defensive and aimed at liberating the country and the truth about it should be defended," she said, adding that Croatia had been exposed to terrorism in that war. The ceremony was also addressed by the envoy of the Croatian president and defence minister, military chief of staff Josip Lucic, police chief Ivica Franjic, and Lika-Senj County prefect Milan Jurkovic. The president of the association "The First Croatian Policeman", Nenad Zovak, asked why veterans who defended Croatia's sovereignty in the struggle with terrorists were now charged with crimes. Speaking on behalf of war veterans' associations, he supported Croatian generals indicted by the Hague war crimes tribunal, urging them to defend the truth about the Homeland War. The president of the Homeland War Special Police Association, Zeljko Sacic, said Croatian defenders had not carried out ethnic cleansing but defended the freedom of their country. (Hina) ha sb