"It has been definitely established that this was not a terrorist act against the British Embassy, but an act by a person from the criminal milieu," Kirin said at a special news conference at the Zagreb police headquarters.
Kirin said the explosive device was brought into the embassy and detonated by a 28-year-old member of the embassy staff, Damir Rovisan, who sustained slight injuries to his shin in the blast.
Kirin said that Rovisan admitted to the police having brought the explosive into the embassy and activated it of his own free will. He had been working for the embassy four years. The minister and Zagreb police chiefs did not say what motive Rovisan could have had and what type of explosive device he was using.
Asked if Rovisan had detonated the explosive out of revolt or boredom, Kirin said he could not comment on that, but added that the incident was definitely not an act of terrorism. Rovisan was sentenced by the Zagreb County Court to 16 months in prison for robbery. The sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court and he was to have started serving his sentence on September 13. As he failed to report with prison authorities, the Prison Administration informed the competent judge and requested that he be brought in.
The minister did not say why Rovisan was not taken to prison to serve his sentence in the past week.
He said that Rovisan was officially arrested, that he gave a formal statement and that he would be charged with endangering lives and property and illegal possession of explosive materials. The police did not say if the suspect was taken to a police station or was still at the Zagreb Accident Hospital. Sources at the hospital this morning said that Rovisan would stay in hospital for three more days to undergo treatment with antibiotics.
Kirin said that Rovisan was to have testified soon in the trial of Novica Petrac, whom the trial court sentenced for participation in the kidnapping of General Vladimir Zagorac's teenage son, and Sinisa Sosa. Petrac and Sosa were charged with seriously injuring Rovisan several years ago in a Zagreb casino, where Rovisan worked as a security guard.
Asked how if was possible for a person with criminal background to work in an embassy and if relevant institutions had failed to do their job, the minister only said that the police had done their job.
Commending police officers who worked on the case, a visibly satisfied Kirin said the police was "a pillar of security".
Numerous questions by some 30 reporters attending the news conference remained unanswered and the conference lasted less than half an hour.
The British Embassy continues to cooperate with Croatian authorities and it cannot comment on the case of its employee who admitted having detonated an explosion at his work place because it does not want to obstruct the investigation, embassy spokeswoman Tessa Fras told Hina after Minister Kirin's news conference.