KOLARIC: PREMIER'S OFFICE IS NOT LEAKING ANY CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

ZAGREB, May 26 (Hina) - The Office of Prime Minister Ivica Racan is not making documents labelled 'state secret' public and it could in no way do such a thing in case of documents on the Ahmici crime either, Government spokeswoman Aleksandra Kolaric told reporters on Friday. Reporters asked Kolaric to comment on the 'leaking' of information from the highest bodies of state authority. "It is clear that making such documents public is damaging for the investigation and such practice is out of the question as far as the Prime Minister's Office is concerned," Kolaric said. The media last week published a document labelled 'state secret', according to which Croatian authorities had given a new identity to some participants in the Ahmici crime, in which 116 Muslim civilians were killed by Croat forces in 1993. "If we are talking about the availability of other documents and information to the media and public, the basic principle one has to respect is equal access to information by all media," Kolaric said, adding there were no deserving or undeserving media when it came to public information. "The principle of equal access to information and documents by all media is, along with the principle of openness, fundamental, and the Prime Minister's Office is operating accordingly. This is normal practice as regards relations with the media in the world, this is what the Council of Europe has recommended, and this is the basic principle of the work of the Prime Minister's Office, the Government's Public Relations Office and myself as Government spokesperson," Kolaric said. (hina) jn rml