70TH ANNIVERSARY OF STJEPAN RADIC'S DEATH COMMEMORATED IN ZAGREB

( Editorial: --> 2585 ) ZAGREB, Aug 8 (Hina) - The 70th anniversary of the death of Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS) founder Stjepan Radic was commemorated on Saturday with a mass at Zagreb Cathedral. Radic died on August 8, 1928 from injuries suffered during an assassination attempt in the Belgrade parliament. Before the mass, wreaths were laid in front of Radic's grave at Zagreb's Mirogoj cemetery on Saturday afternoon by a HSS delegation, lead by the party's current president Zlatko Tomcic and vice-president Stjepan Radic, the grandson of the HSS founder. The HSS vice-president emphasised his grandfather had made a great contribution to the foundation of Croatian freedom and the realisation of independence for Croats. Tomcic believed Radic's ideas on democracy, tolerance and humanity would help Croatia in its way towards European integration. Earlier in the day a wreath was also laid at Radic's grave by a delegation from the governing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), led by Zagreb City Council assembly chairman and HDZ Zagreb City organising committee president Zlatko Canjuga. On June 20, 1928 Serb Radical Party deputy Punisa Racic shot several Croatian MPs in the Serb-dominated Yugoslav parliament in Belgrade. Stjepan Radic's brother Pavle and Djuro Basaricek died instantly, while Radic, Ivan Pernar and Ivan Grandja were also injured in the attack. (Hina) mbr 082045 MET aug 98