ZAGREB, Sept 9 (Hina) - Croatian War Veterans Minister Ivica Pancic stated on Monday that a list of disabled persons from Osijek-Baranja County published in the local paper "Osjecki dom" was not "leaked" from his ministry and that he
did not give it to journalists.
ZAGREB, Sept 9 (Hina) - Croatian War Veterans Minister Ivica Pancic
stated on Monday that a list of disabled persons from Osijek-
Baranja County published in the local paper "Osjecki dom" was not
"leaked" from his ministry and that he did not give it to
journalists. #L#
The Osijek-Baranja County branch of the HVIDR-a association of
disabled war veterans told a press conference in Osijek that it
would sue an unidentified person for releasing information about
disabled veterans to "Osijecki dom".
The president of the HVIDR-a county branch, Hrvoje Kurtovic, said
that "only the War Veterans Ministry" had that list, while the
president of HVIDR-a Osijek town branch, Miljenko Kolobaric,
mentioned Minister Pancic in this regard.
Pancic said that just prior to the summer break, the ministry had
supplied individual county branches of HVIDR-a them with a list of
all of its members, at the branches' request. Pancic said that
HVIDR-a had requested the lists for member registration purposes.
He added that "Osjecki dom" had contacted the Ministry with some
question. "I think that this request was met through our services.
But that is information that is readily available to everyone, so
there was no breach of confidence," he added.
Commenting on recent events in Osijek, where disgruntled members of
the county and town branches of HVIDR-a blocked the entrance to the
"Osjecki dom" offices since Friday to prevent the issuing of the
edition containing the list of disabled veterans, Pancic said, "I
do not understand this action, regardless of whether the list
should or should not have been released."
"What happened in Osijek was not in anyone's interest," he said.
Pancic said that he would meet HVIDR-a president Damir Varazdinec
on Wednesday to discuss the Osijek incident and other issues.
The War Veterans Ministry has been intensively working on a review
of disability for war veterans, Pancic said, adding that doctors
had been negligent in some cases which now require further
investigation.
(hina) sp/ha