"This is the crudest type of mobbing which I experienced back in 1992," Cigelj told Hina without saying whom she would sue.
Cigelj was resentful that she did not have the opportunity to state her side of the story and that she did not get any explanation from the government regarding her replacement.
She believes that she was replaced over the humorous questionnaire compiled by NGOs and not because she had requested vetting candidates for the Council for the Development of Civil Society.
Cigelj claims that at yesterday's government session Deputy PM Jadranka Kosor had stated that the questionnaire was a real one and named Cigelj its author.
NGOs yesterday confirmed that they had compiled the questionnaire on the basis of questions put by secret agents to candidates for the Council for the Development of Civil Society. NGOs said that the purpose of the questionnaire was to point to the absurdity of the involvement of secret agents in the case. They believe that the government had misinterpreted the questionnaire and replaced Cigelj over it.
Cigelj admitted to having proposed vetting candidates for the Council, but claimed that her actions were in line with relevant laws and regulations, as well as that she had received instructions for all that she did.
"I was given instructions for all my actions, including the vetting," she said.
A senior government source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Hina today that until yesterday the government had not known anything about the vetting of candidates for the Council.
"Nobody from the government knew anything about it, nobody requested or signed a document authorising the vetting of those people. There is no reason for the government to do so, because those officials do not have access to important documents, they are prominent individuals who are chosen under public procedure," the source said.
The government claims that the Council should have been appointed back in September and that Cigelj had been asked several times why the appointment was being delayed, to which she replied that she needed more time to prepare the appointment.
"It was only yesterday that the reason for the delay became clear, after (the non-govermental organisation) GONG protested against the government's policy towards the civil sector," the source said, adding that Cigelj herself had admitted yesterday to having conducted the vetting on her own.
Copies of the controversial questionnaire containing humorous questions were distributed by some 15 NGOs on the occasion of the Days of Associations event in Zagreb on Thursday. The NGOs urged replacing Cigelj over the failure to set up the Council for the Development of Civil Society, illegal vetting, and the non-transparent election of members of the Croatia-EU Civil Society Committee.