GOVT. TO PAY 1.5 MLN KUNA TO ZEC FAMILY, LAWSUIT AGAINST STATE TO BE WITHDRAWN

ZAGREB, April 29 (Hina) - The Croatian government on Thursday decided to make a one-off payment of 1.5 million kuna (EUR 200,000) to financially assist the surviving members of the Zec family, whose attorney has said that he will withdraw their lawsuit against the Republic of Croatia on Friday.#L# The government said in a statement that the assistance was given as compensation for living costs, because the two surviving members lost their parents and were left without any means of living as minors. The money is also intended for helping them create conditions to live on their own, the statement reads adding that the Vice-Premier in charge of social activities and human rights, Jadranka Kosor, would meet the surviving members of the Zec family tomorrow. "The surviving members of the Zec family are absolutely satisfied with this decision of the Government and I will withdraw their lawsuit against the State tomorrow," Anto Nobilo, attorney for Gordana and Dusan Zec, told Hina. He added that his clients were satisfied with the amount of compensation and the government's prompt reaction which ensued only a week after the start of the trial. The public first learned of the Zec family at the beginning of the war in 1991, when reserve members of the Croatian Interior Ministry killed Mihajlo, his wife Marija and their 12-year-old daughter Aleksandra in Zagreb. Although the killers admitted the crime, they never went on trial due to a procedural mistake. Dusan and Gordana, who have been living in Banja Luka with their grandmother since 1991, sued the Republic of Croatia with the Zagreb Municipal Court, seeking 1.5 million kuna in damages, the amount which the government today decided to pay in the form of one-off financial assistance. (Hina) rml