ZAGREB, Dec 13 (Hina) - The cortege with the coffin of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman set out from the Presidential Palace toward the central Mirogoj cemetery at 11.15am Monday. The President's Chief-of-Staff Ivica Kostovic bid
farewell to the President on behalf of the President's Office staff.
ZAGREB, Dec 13 (Hina) - The cortege with the coffin of Croatian
President Franjo Tudjman set out from the Presidential Palace
toward the central Mirogoj cemetery at 11.15am Monday.
The President's Chief-of-Staff Ivica Kostovic bid farewell to the
President on behalf of the President's Office staff. #L#
As the first president of Croatia, Dr. Tudjman made the most
important decisions for the Croatian people and state at the
Presidential Palace, Kostovic said.
"We, your associates, who have had the honour and privilege to work
with you silently, invisibly, and in an self-effacing manner, are
witnesses to what the public sometimes failed to notice: that you
worked day and night for Croatia, without sparing your health, full
of self-sacrifice and discipline, setting an example not only to
all of us but also to the entire state administration and nation.
If all Croatian citizens embrace as your legacy only a small part of
your self-sacrifice, work and patriotism, it will be enough for
continuing the establishment of your and our only Croatia.
Leaving to rest in Croatia's soil you will remain in our hearts.
May his historic memory live and our eternal gratitude to our
President", Kostovic said.
In the cortege with President Tudjman's coffin are members of his
family, representatives of Croatia's legislative, executive, and
judicial authority, the City of Zagreb and the President's
advisors.
The procession also includes twelve Croatian army officers, who are
carrying the President's decorations, and officers carrying the
state and presidential flag and the cross.
The cross with the name of President Franjo Tudjman was carried out
of the Presidential Palace and will be carried by General Dragan
Skrtic, commander of the 4th Honorary Battalion and head of the
President's body guards.
The coffin with the body of President Tudjman was carried out of the
Palace past his family, advisors, and state officials. The way from
the hall where the President lay in state to the exit was strewn with
white and red rose petals. The coffin was carried out by eight
Croatian army generals - Lieutenant General Mile Cuk, and Major
Generals Jozo Milicevic, Marijan Marekovic, Josip Culetic, Ivan
Kapular, Mirko Norac, Milenko Filipovic, and Mladen Kruljac.
Before bidding farewell the President in front of the Presidential
Palace, members of an honorary unit of the First Croatian Guard
Corps paid tribute to the President.
Before that, President Tudjman's close associates Ivica Kostovic,
Vesna Skare Ozbolt, Pero Jurkovic, Ivan Milas, Andjelko Mijatovic,
and Nedjeljko Mihanovic paid their last respects.
Several thousand political, cultural, and public figures and more
than 100,000 citizens from all over Croatia and abroad have paid
tribute to President Tudjman since Saturday afternoon.
President Tudjman will be laid to rest in a crypt behind the Church
of Lord Jesus Christ at Zagreb's central cemetery of Mirogoj. The
funeral ceremony starts at 2pm.
(hina) rml