CROATIAN GENERAL SUES PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MESIC FOR SLANDER

ZADAR, Jan 26 (Hina) - Croatian general Ljubo Cesic-Rojs on Wednesday sued presidential candidate Stipe Mesic for slander. The suit quotes Mesic in a public statement published by "Vecernji List", Croatia's largest circulation daily, on January 20: "Who is he anyway? (...) Who is general Rojs!? I remember him when he drove a bus. He was a good driver. And now he threatens with a coup d'etat, and I am wondering what (Defence Minister Pavao) Miljavac is doing." A note explaining the suit, filed with the Zagreb Municipal Court by Cesic-Rojs' attorney Zeljko Olujic, says all statements made by Mesic are untrue and slanderous. The note says that anything untrue said about a party which can damage the party's honour or reputation represents the criminal act of slander, and that this is the reason behind Cesic-Rojs' suit against Mesic. Cesic-Rojs said in a statement yesterday that when he made the statements which elicited Mesic's reaction, he was not speaking as a Croatian army general and assistance minister of defence, but as a Croatian citizen and member of that section of the Croatian people which "did not deserve Mesic's jokes and insults." Cesic-Rojs, who yesterday resigned to his office as assistant defence minister, told the January 20 issue of "Vecernji List" that "Mesic left in the middle of the war and cannot command the HV (Croatian Army)." (hina) ha mm