The Federation is against the use of the Wall of Pain in political purposes or for the promotion of somebody's personal ambitions, the Federation's President Ivan Psenica told a news conference in Zagreb on Monday.
Psenica said that neither Zagreb authorities nor individuals were behind the relocation of the Wall of Pain but that this wall, consisting of bricks with the names of dead and missing soldiers and civilians, was being relocated at the initiative of those who built it, namely parents and families of the victims from the Homeland Defence War.
Psencia told reporters that it was true that the idea about building the wall of this kind in Selska Street was first given by Zdenka Farkas, the head of another association of families of missing and dead Croatians called Appeal Centre, but he accused her of manipulating a group of people who he said did not understand "that nobody is the owner o author of the Wall".
Farkas and another 10 associations of war veterans on Monday issued a press release demanding that the Pain of Wall should remain in Selska Street. They also called on sculptor Dusan Djamonja, who is the author of the monument which is to be built in Mirogoj in tribute to Homeland Defence War victims and which is to incorporate bricks from the said Wall, to distance himself from the relocation of the Wall.
However, Psecnica presented at the news conference documentation according to which presidents of six associations of families and war veterans signed in 2003 giving their consent to the relocation for the Wall of Pain for the purpose of building the new monument at Mirogoj.
The relevant documentation was handed over to reporters at the conference.
Psencia said that the location in Selska Street was not adequate and that families of missing and dead soldiers wanted to have an appropriate place at which they can light candles and say prayers for their dearest ones.
In this context he said that families were now searching for 1,158 soldiers and civilians who went missing during the Homeland Defence War and the bricks of the Wall fo Pain in Selska contained the names of 13,600 Croatian victims.
Psenica said that this federation was supported by another five associations of families or war veterans.
The construction of the Wall of Pain began by bereaved mothers and families in autumn 1993 in front of a building in Selska Street which at the time housed offices of UN representatives to Croatia. With this act they wanted to remind UN peace-keepers of Croatian victims.