WAR VETERANS ACCUSE AUTHORITIES OF DEMEANING HOMELAND WAR

OSIJEK, Sept 20 (Hina) - In the last week, 65 Croatian war veterans were arrested or brought in for questioning, the Osijek-Baranja County Headquarters for the Protection of the Homeland War Dignity announced Thursday. The data have been supplied by the persons arrested or questioned in Virovitica, Bjelovar, Osijek, Zadar, Sisak, and on the Istria peninsula, Homeland Defence War organisations association president Zvonimir Trusic said. An emergency session was held in Osijek Thursday, calling for all war veterans' organisations to "stop all talks and negotiations with the authorities and to determine the time, place, and methods of resistance, ranging from passive to active civil disobedience," Ivan Vekic, head of the Osijek-Baranja County Headquarters for the Protection of the Homeland War Dignity and a war minister in the Croatian Interior Ministry, said. He added the main goal of these arrests and questionings was "to demean the Homeland War, and to try and prove it was not a defensive war," which is what "the world has been asking for," by forgetting "the suffering the Croatian people went through, and the bravery of those who defended their country." (hina) js