SPLIT, April 16 (Hina) - The Croatian Interior Minister and a vice president of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Sime Lucin, told a news conference in Split on Wednesday elections would most definitely be held in mid-autumn. He
expressed belief that the incumbent coalition would remain in power and that the government would complete all ongoing projects by 2007.
SPLIT, April 16 (Hina) - The Croatian Interior Minister and a vice
president of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Sime Lucin, told a
news conference in Split on Wednesday elections would most
definitely be held in mid-autumn. He expressed belief that the
incumbent coalition would remain in power and that the government
would complete all ongoing projects by 2007. #L#
"We are not doing this because of Europe or the world, but
exclusively for our own sake, for the citizens and the future of our
children," Lucin said.
Asked to comment on a statement by the president of the opposition's
Croatian Democratic Union, Ivo Sanader, that his press conference
with Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic was impermissible, Lucin
said that Sanader was either not informed about the issue or did not
want corruption in Croatia to be eradicated. Lucin explained that
the State Prosecutor's Office was in fact superior to police and
that he and Bajic had discussed cooperation.
Responding to a reporter's question, Lucin said he was surprised at
comments and speculations following the arrest of Ivica Rajic, whom
the Hague-based war crimes tribunal indicted for crimes in Bosnia's
Stupni Do.
"Everybody forgot about Rajic and I expected that police would be
commended after his apprehension, but I did not expect such media
speculations. I can understand that to some extent because they
(reporters) don't have enough information about his arrest. The
claim that he (Rajic) was arrested while taking a walk is absurd.
Police prepared and carried out the Rajic case in a highly
professional manner, and an investigation will show whether he had
accomplices," Lucin said.
Asked about General Ante Gotovina, an ICTY indictee at large, the
minister said that chances of his being arrested would be
significantly higher once debates about him stopped. Police are
doing their job in the Gotovina case and information about his
occasional appearances in the public has been investigated and
proven false, Lucin said.
"As the interior minister, I cannot confirm that Gotovina is in
Croatia, and it is strange that some foreign diplomats who claim
that they saw him have not reported this to police," said Lucin.
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