VUKOVAR, July 4 (Hina) - The prosecution will check whether there are elements of the criminal responsibility of persons who barred a 14-year-old boy of Serb descent from playing in a local soccer tournament in Vukovar last weekend
only because of his ethnic origin, a municipal state prosecutor in that eastern Croatian town reported on Friday.
VUKOVAR, July 4 (Hina) - The prosecution will check whether there
are elements of the criminal responsibility of persons who barred a
14-year-old boy of Serb descent from playing in a local soccer
tournament in Vukovar last weekend only because of his ethnic
origin, a municipal state prosecutor in that eastern Croatian town
reported on Friday. #L#
"We shall examine whether a criminal act was committed in the
incident, when the organising committee of last weekend's soccer
tournament in memory of fallen Vukovar soldiers prevented the boy,
a member of the 'Mali Vukovarac' soccer school, from taking part in
the event," prosecutor Zlatko Jaric said.
The co-ordinating body of war veterans' associations in Vukovar-
Sirmium County on Friday dismissed the press coverage of the
scandal as tendentious.
Veterans claim that unnecessary events were being politicised and
used by some persons to score political points, criminalise the
stands of the Homeland Defence War's victims and sideline everyday
events in Vukovar.
The ban on the Serb boy's participation in the soccer tournament
only because of his ethnic origins was deplored by top Croatian
officials, including President Stjepan Mesic and Premier Ivica
Racan, the war veterans' ministry, the national minority council
and the strongest opposition party -- HDZ.
(hina) ms sb