ANTI-FASCIST FIGHTERS WANT RIGHTS ENJOYED BY HOMELAND WAR SOLDIERS

RIJEKA, Oct 30 (Hina) - The associations of WWII anti-fascist fighters of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and the City of Rijeka on Wednesday urged the Prime Minister, government, and all ministries to "return to the fighters of the National Liberation Struggle (NOB) the rights they were stripped of during the HDZ rule". #L# The city and county anti-fascist associations request the same rights as those exercised by Homeland War veterans, disabled war veterans and civilians, and other military pensioners. Warning about the fact that more than 3,000 anti-fascist monuments had been destroyed or damaged in Croatia from 1990 to 2000, the associations demanded the adoption of laws on monuments which would punish their destruction. Erecting monuments to and naming streets after "fascist criminals" is inadmissible, the associations said, speaking about a monument to Jure Francetic and a street named after Mile Budak. They also slammed the publishing of Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and requested that the number of books on the NOB destroyed in recent years be established. The associations requested that the government and ministries finance anti-fascist fighters associations, as well as Homeland War associations, directly from the budget. Commenting on the establishment of an all-Croatian association of WWII veterans, which includes anti-fascists fighters, Homeguards and Ustasha soldiers, the head of the Rijeka association, Mario Dagostin said that Fascism and anti-Fascism could never go together. He supported the government's decision to try to solve "the Bobetko case" with legal means, but added that the government was bound to cooperate with the UN war crimes tribunal. "No one has the right the hold an entire nation hostage and all those who are called to appear in court must do so and prove their innocence," he said. (hina) rml sb