INTERIOR MINISTER LUCIN: CONDIC IS AGAIN WRONG

RIJEKA, March 10 (Hina) - Asked by reporters about statements of war veterans' leader Lieutenant Mirko Condic who claimed that police exerted pressure on some members of the leading veteran association for the protection of the Homeland Defence War, abused them and searched their houses, Croatia's Interior Minister Sime Lucin replied that Condic's claims were incorrect just as in the past. "Condic's statements are directed not at the protection of the Homeland War but at the de-stabilisation and toppling of the incumbent authorities," Lucin said on Saturday during his tour to the seaport of Rijeka. In relation to Condic's claims that the police exerted pressure on signatories to a petition asking a referendum on the adoption of a law under which Croatian Defence Homeland war veterans would be treated (by the judiciary) just as defence and anti-Fascist fighters of some European countries after WW II, Minister Lucin explained that police "reacted towards some persons who were collecting signatories to the petition, but in one case it was about the illegal possession of explosive devices, in the other case it was about economic crime and in the third case about a man who ran a car although he did not posses a driving licence." Commenting on measures which should be taken to counter forest fires in the coastal areas during the coming summer, the minister said the prevention should be better as levels and volumes of responsibilities had precisely been defined. During his visit to Rijeka Lucin and local police discussed preparations for enhancing security and safety during the tourist season. (hina) ms