LUCIN: I CAN'T ANSWER ABOUT LEVAR MURDER UNTIL INVESTIGATION IS OVER

ZAGREB, Oct 24 (Hina) - Croatia's Interior Minister Sime Lucin told the House of Counties during question time on Tuesday that he could give no answers (about the murder of Milan Levar) until the investigation was over. Levar, who was interviewed by The Hague-based war crimes tribunal in 1997 and 1998 about crimes Croatian forces had allegedly committed against Serb civilians in the Gospic area during the Homeland War, was killed in an explosion in the yard of his house in Gospic on August 28. The blast was caused by a planted hand grenade. Zvonimir Puljic of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) said that two months had passed since Levar's death and it was high time to inform the public about the results of the investigation, the more so as "seven percent of Gospic residents" were questioned. Replying to remarks coming from deputies' benches, Lucin said: "If you had processed war crimes in Gospic in 1992, Levar's murder probably would not have happened." He also asserted that war crimes had been committed in Gospic. "I don't know how you can say that no crimes occurred, when civilians were killed," Lucin said dismissing a claim by Croatian Party of Rights' Velimir Kvesic that the Interior Ministry was conducting a 'campaign' without any reason in Gospic. Justice Minister Stjepan Ivanisevic confirmed talks on the establishment of a separate office in charge of preventing organised crime and corruption were underway. It has been estimated that the existing institutions, because of their other obligations, could not respond to requests regarding the prevention of those forms of crime and that is the reason we are putting forward this proposal, Ivanisevic said. He stressed this was only a project which the Justice Ministry would forward to government to consider it. Only after that could work on drawing up a bill start, he said. It is difficult to talk about the scope of activities of the new office, especially as regards corruption, because from the point of view of the public corruption occurs in the "grey zone," he added. Today's question time marked the beginning of the first autumn session of the upper house. HDZ and HSP deputies on several occasions expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Prime Minister Ivica Racan was not attending question time. The upper house will probably come to the end of its mandate without having asked the premier any question, said HDZ's Zvonimir Puljic. (hina) rml