TOMAC SAYS CRIMES WERE KNOWN ABOUT, BUT INVESTIGATION OBSTRUCTED

ZAGREB, Sept 14 (Hina) - Zdravko Tomac, deputy prime minister of the former war-time government of national unity, said Thursday he had been aware of war crimes in the central Croatian town of Gospic in 1991, but had not learned about them officially, rather through personal sources. "It is a fact that crimes were committed ..., but I found out about them from a Croatian Army officer, a Serb whose mother had gone missing," Tomac, current deputy speaker of the Croatian National Parliament, told Hina. At the time the government had not officially discussed the crimes against Gospic civilians, Tomac said, adding it was possible the issue had been discussed at sessions of the then government's coordination for internal affairs, of which he had not been a member. Having learnt about the crimes, Tomac requested an investigation, primarily from Ante Karic, the then president of the Gospic crisis centre, and then premier Franjo Greguric, who initiated the probe. "Investigations and other measures were initiated in Gospic, but somebody pulled a plug on them and this is what should be investigated," Tomac said, adding everybody in the government had known about the crimes, about which he wrote in his book. At the time the usual practice was for many important issues to be discussed by a small circle of the then ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), without the government knowing anything about the issues. "I stand firmly behind my stance that the government of (national unity) had attempted to fully investigate the crimes and do something to prevent them," Tomac said. However, he added he believed the events were now taken out of context. "In reading today's newspaper, seemingly the crimes were committed only by one side, this was not our policy, certainly not the government's policy at the time," Tomac said. (hina) lml jn