BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 3840

HR-GOTOVAC-Politika BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 3840 BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 3840HINA Zagreb 12 December 2000CROATIA BIDS FAREWELL TO POLITICIAN AND WRITER VLADO GOTOVACZAGREB, Dec 12 (Hina) - Vlado Gotovac, a Croatian poet, philosopher, politician and honorary president of the Liberal Party (LS), was buried at Zagreb's Mirogoj cemetery on Tuesday in the presence of his family, state officials, friends and numerous supporters and citizens. "Vlado was a poet, philosopher and politician but above all he was my friend. He was a man who had always, in every moment and in all changes we went through, known how important it was to cherish love, freedom and dignity," Croatian President Stipe Mesic said in his farewell speech. Reminding that the communist regime had thrown Gotovac in prison and intellectual isolation, Mesic recalled that the "former Croatian authorities called him a traitor." "Neither made him waver or change," said Mesic. Gotovac refused to seek pardon and s