INTERIOR MINISTRY REFUSES CLAIMS ABOUT RAIDS IN HDZ MEMBERS' FLATS

ZAGREB, May 31 (Hina) - Croatia's Interior Ministry on Wednesday afternoon denied accusations of the president of the strongest opposition party - HDZ - that policemen raided and searched flats of HDZ officials - Janko Bobetko, Ivan Tolj and Hrvoje Sosic. According to a statement the ministry released today, policemen held talks with the aforementioned HDZ members, within a review of files of all owners of arms. The statement read that in accordance with the amendments and supplements to the arms act, last February Interior Minister Sime Lucin had ordered to all police stations to launch a review of files of persons who possessed weapons. Under Lucin's decree, police in Zagreb carried out an examination of 60 percent of some 30,000 files. To date, the police have not received any objection to the conduct of policemen. Just like other cases, files of Sosic, Bobetko and Tolj have been checked. According to the statement, the three have failed to change firearm licences in line with law. Policemen's task was to hold talks with them in order to establish whether they still possessed arms and to advise them to change licences. "During the review there was neither raid nor search of the flats in any of these three cases. Only the talks were led with the persons who possessed the arms," the statement read. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry told Hina that policemen had held talks with Bobetko, Sosic and Tolj in their flats, but he could not say precisely when the conversations had been conducted. HDZ President Ivo Sanader told a news conference on Wednesday morning that having no court injunction and giving no previous announcement, police had raided the flats of his party members, and he described it as "the unacceptable and unacceptable conduct of new authorities and as a special psychological war against the HDZ." (hina) mm ms