RIJEKA, June 17 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said in Rijeka on Tuesday Sunday's incident in the European water polo championship finals, although caused by a small group of unreasonable people, was a bad reflection of
Croatian society and could negatively affect Rijeka's candidacy for hosting the 2009 Mediterranean Games.
RIJEKA, June 17 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said in
Rijeka on Tuesday Sunday's incident in the European water polo
championship finals, although caused by a small group of
unreasonable people, was a bad reflection of Croatian society and
could negatively affect Rijeka's candidacy for hosting the 2009
Mediterranean Games. #L#
Such situations should be settled with the help of laws, Mesic
said.
He added that Slovene services had failed to organise the match as a
high risk event, which he said did not excuse those who caused the
incident, "which was planned".
Mesic today visited Rijeka University, where he participated in a
session of its Senate. He visited the School of Medicine, where he
discussed current topics with students and attended the opening of
a new annex of the Law School building, where he held a speech on
Croatia's integration into Europe.
The president stated that Croatia could become an EU member in 2007
on condition it adjusted its legislation to the EU's, continued
cooperation with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague and
facilitated the return of all refugees and property restitution.
Asked whether documents on General Ante Gotovina had been sent to
the Hague tribunal on time, Mesic said the "the documents were sent
after they were found and could not have been sent earlier".
Commenting on Gotovina's statement from an interview to the
Nacional weekly that soldiers at Split's Dracevac barracks had not
behaved appropriately towards President Mesic, Mesic said the
soldiers "behaved well", but the one who failed was "the commander,
who did not prevent people who came into the barracks from outside
from causing excesses".
"If the Hague prosecution accepts the proposal that General
Gotovina, due to the new circumstances, should answer
investigators' questions in Zagreb, I would meet him," Mesic said,
adding this also depended on the ICTY's stand.
(hina) rml