Speaking at a press conference in Pula, Ravnic said that the monument to Italian fascists was raised by Antonio Pauletich from Rovinj in consultation with the Montonese family from Trieste, and that the idea came from one of the commanders of fascist forces in Istria, Luigi Papo, and pro-fascist member of the Italian parliament Robert Menia.
Ravnic said that it had been verified that the 22 names inscribed on the monument belonged to members of the fascist garrison in Motovun who had committed serious war crimes and that among them were seven war criminals on a list of a UN commission.
He said that the Istrian antifascist war veterans had demanded that the monument be removed as soon as it was erected, "but nothing has been done to date because we were explicitly told that it was not a legal, but a political issue."
"Budak, Francetic and the persons whose names are written on the memorial at Cize supported the same criminal ideology, so I believe that the government will find a solution to remove the monument commemorating Italian fascists. We also have the support of Istria County for that," Ravnic said.