PRESIDENT MESIC: GENERAL NORAC REQUESTS REPORT

ZAGREB, Feb 13 (Hina) - Asked about the whereabouts of General Mirko Norac, President Stjepan Mesic on Tuesday evening told Croatian television that earlier in the day Norac requested report and that he was going to receive him. After that Norac will answer questions asked by a court, as he is prepared for it, President Mesic said in an interview during the flagship news programme on the national TV. Asked when the report would be scheduled, Mesic answered that he believed it could be as soon as tomorrow, or tomorrow he would exactly know the date. Mesic explained that Norac is a general in the Reserves, but he is a general of the Croatian army and he fought for the institutions of the Croatian state, Mesic stressed. The head of state asserted that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) had no indictment against Norac nor that anybody in the Hague-based Tribunal asked for him. Commenting on Norac's interview which Split-based "Slobodna Dalmacija" daily will publish tomorrow and according to which Norac was in Split during Sunday's protest rally, the Croatian President said that by doing so Norac denied statements of those who ostensibly asked for his protection. "Many organisers of the Split rally, who stood on stage during that event, knew that he was not under the protection of authorities and that authorities did not conceal him, and knew that he was living freely at an unknown place for the time being," Mesic added. (hina) ms