VETERANS ASK GOVT TO EXPRESS STANCE ON THEIR DECLARATION

ZAGREB, June 2 (Hina) - The Alliance of associations of Croatian Homeland War veterans (SUDHOS) requested of the Government to express its stance about their declaration on the protection of values of the Homeland War which they adopted at a rally on May 30 in Vukovar. Should the Government refuse to do so, protests will continue on St. Mark Square (the headquarters of the Government and Parliament in Zagreb), SUDHOS president Velimir Kvesic told Friday's news conference. The declaration accuses the Government for criminalising the Homeland War. "We are embittered with the stance of the Croatian authorities which is, by accepting any demand and wish of the Hague Tribunal, cooperating in the criminalisation of the Homeland War," the declaration states. Croatian veterans did not commit war crimes in the Homeland War, SUDHOS vice president and MP of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) Vlado Jukic said, adding he did not exclude the possibility of various crimes being committed. The SUDHOS demands amnesty and the application of the Amnesty Act for all convicted Croatian Homeland War veterans, he said. Kvesic announced protests for autumn, adding they could happen before is the new law on the rights of Croatian Homeland War veterans takes away this status from Croats in Bosnia- Herzegovina. The SUDHOS leadership stressed they fully supported the speech of the HSP president Ante Djapic in Vukovar, who said "Let the Serbs in Vukovar know that some former authorities, even this new authority, can adopt a hundred laws on amnesty and reconstruction, but we will come to power sooner or later, and then woe betide you". (hina) lml jn