ZAGREB, June 27 (Hina) - Shortly after he was taken in for questioning by police on Saturday night, "Nacional" weekly editor-in-chief Ivo Pukanic was released. At 6.40 pm yesterday, the police informed Pukanic that he would be taken
in for questioning so that he could provide information on documents which had been found during yesterday's search of his apartment. The documents in question, which "Nacional" weekly has published in part, concern the alleged tapping of the telephones of the President of the Republic and those of his closest associates, and on the tapping of the telephone of Croatia's soccer team selector Miroslav Blazevic. After the interrogation, Pukanic said the conduct of the police was fair. The police wanted to know who and when had given him the documents in question. Pukanic said he quoted Article 12 of the Act on Public Information and refused to answer those questions. Pukanic's attorney Em
ZAGREB, June 27 (Hina) - Shortly after he was taken in for
questioning by police on Saturday night, "Nacional" weekly editor-
in-chief Ivo Pukanic was released.
At 6.40 pm yesterday, the police informed Pukanic that he would be
taken in for questioning so that he could provide information on
documents which had been found during yesterday's search of his
apartment.
The documents in question, which "Nacional" weekly has published in
part, concern the alleged tapping of the telephones of the
President of the Republic and those of his closest associates, and
on the tapping of the telephone of Croatia's soccer team selector
Miroslav Blazevic.
After the interrogation, Pukanic said the conduct of the police was
fair. The police wanted to know who and when had given him the
documents in question. Pukanic said he quoted Article 12 of the Act
on Public Information and refused to answer those questions.
Pukanic's attorney Emil Havkic said his client was suspected of
revealing an official secret and the police still had the right to
conduct operational activities.
The warrant to search Pukanic's apartment was issued by the
investigating judge and it is interesting that it was issued seven
days after the documents in question had been published in
"Nacional", Havkic said, adding "if someone wanted to hide the
documents, he really had the time to hide and destroy them in those
seven days".
Pukanic believes the whole affair was another act of political
pressure aimed at intimidating him and the weekly.
The "Nacional" editor-in-chief arrived for questioning
accompanied by the president of the Croatian Journalists'
Association (HND), Jagoda Vukusic, and "Nacional" reporters Sina
Karli, Jasna Babic and Srecko Jurdana.
The Interior Ministry's Information Service said in a statement
last night it would press charges against Pukanic and other,
currently still unidentified persons, for revealing an official
secret.
According to the statement, five documents (on 37 pages) have been
found in Pukanic's apartment. It is suspected that these documents,
parts of which have been published in several issues of "Nacional",
belong to the services of the Croatian intelligence community and
are classified "official secret".
(hina) jn/rml