VETERANS WITH PTSP CRITICISE AUTHORITIES' ATTITUDE

ZAGREB, Sept 9 (Hina) - Croatian veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder on Saturday held their second convention in Zagreb, criticising the government's attitude towards them and objecting to a draft bill on Homeland War veterans. The convention, organised by the Association of Croatian Veterans Suffering from PTSP, saw the veterans criticising the performance of Croatia's Veterans' Ministry and its attitude towards them, pointing out their patience, too, had an end. Speaking about the six months since the first convention, the secretary-general of the Association of Veterans Treated for PTSP, Goran Majstorovic, said the ruling coalition was not fulfilling the promises it made to the veterans ahead of January's parliamentary elections. He reminded in particular that the government had promised after the first convention that PTSP veterans' rights would be equalised with those of wounded veterans. Visibly excited and applauded by several hundred envoys of various veterans' associations, Majstorovic said the Veterans' Ministry was distancing itself from veterans with "bullet-proof glass". He reminded there were many suicides among veterans, and that the general public was not aware of their torment and despair. He told the government that the veterans' "patience is big, but it does have an end". Herman Vukusic, the expert leader of the Association of Veterans Treated for PTSP, told the convention that ill veterans were seeking to have their rights equalised with those of wounded veterans but not to their detriment as, he added, was suggested in the draft bill on veterans' rights. The veterans called on state officials to help them implement the conclusions reached at their first convention, adding they wanted to speak about their problems to the president of the republic and the prime minister. (hina) ha