Addressing a press conference in the central coastal city of Zadar, Letica said it was morally disgraceful of the prime minister and the president to call on fugitive General Ante Gotovina to surrender to the Hague war crimes tribunal and thus prove that he was a patriot.
"(Gotovina) has the civic and moral right to decide by himself if he will or won't, when or how, attend the court proceedings, which are deeply unfair and represent a condemnation not only of him but of a victorious army, a state leadership and a state itself as well."
Letica said that unlike the incumbent authorities, he would cooperate much more with Gotovina's defence team as the future head of state.
Attending the press conference was also Tonci Tadic, vice president of the Party of Rights, which is backing Letica in the presidential race.
Tadic said Croatia did not need a president "who apart from Serbian doesn't speak any other foreign language, who can't turn on a computer, who acts as a witness collaborator of the Hague tribunal or the international community's governor in Croatia, who isn't familiar with international military agreements, who doesn't know who was the aggressor against Croatia, who hasn't decorated Goran Ivanisevic and doesn't promote Croatian but foreign national interests".