PRESIDENT MESIC CONFIRMS HAVING RECEIVED HATE MAIL

VRBOVEC, Sept 2 (Hina) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic, who on Saturday attended with his associates a traditional culinary event in Vrbovec near Zagreb, confirmed he had received hate mail with assassination threats. Mesic was answering a reporter's question on whether it was true that he had received hate mail from the Croatian Revolutionary Fraternity organisation threatening that he would be assassinated. The President said he had received the hate mail via a fax machine in his office the day after the murder of Hague witness Milan Levar, who was killed in a bomb explosion in Gospic on August 28. Mesic said the mail threatened assassination with an explosive device. "I believe that the Croatian Revolutionary Fraternity was dissolved after the establishment of Croatia's independence because it was no longer needed and I believe that those who have signed (the hate mail) have abused the name of the organisation, but I definitely do not know who it was," Mesic said. "I do not think these people are serious. They could have given me the possibility to complain at least instead of imposing an immediately effective sentence," Mesic told reporters. He added the threat was not the reason why he had decided not to attend the opening of the Olympics in Sydney. Asked to comment on the decision of Interior Minister Sime Lucin not to replace the head of the Gospic police department, Dubravko Novak, Mesic said he had not given any statements as to what Lucin should do. "I believe it would be moral and fair that those responsible for the area where a crime happens offer resignation. Whether it will be accepted or not is another matter. However, it is obvious what this is all about," Mesic said. (hina) rml