JOINT COUNCIL PROTESTS PULLING DOWN OF SERB FLAGS IN DANUBE REGION

( Editorial: --> 6082 ) VUKOVAR, Mar 2 (Hina) - The Joint Council of (Serb-majority) Municipalities (ZVO) in the Croatian Danube River region on Monday condemned the taking down of Serb flags from several institutions in Vukovar. On Sunday police pulled down flags from Workers' House in Borovo Naselje and the TV Dunav building in Vukovar. The office of the Assistant Interior Minister Josko Moric last week warned that it would remove illegal flags and symbols from public places "which are not the flag and the symbol of the Serb ethnic community in Croatia". In the ZVO statement, signed by its president Milos Vojnovic, it states that removing Serb flags is a "direct violation of the constitutional law on the rights of ethnic communities and national minorities". In regards to displaying flags of national minorities, Vojnovic sees the main problem in "that Croatia, apart from a law which regulates the use of the national flag and presidential sash, there is no other law which regulates the technicalities of displaying flags of national minorities...". "Flags were also taken down at other places, including a stylised flag which is a part of a memorial complex on the Trpinja road," the statement said. According to the statement, the ZVO will inform all relevant domestic and international political and other institutions about this latest case of "crudely violating" human and national rights of Serbs in eastern Slavonia. When asked to comment on the ZVO statement about the removal of flags, the Assistant Interior Minister Josko Moric's office said that any comment would be superfluous as the Ministry had explained its stance in a statement last week. In the statement released on 26 February, Moric's office cited a regulation of Article 9 of the Constitutional Law on Human Rights and Freedoms and Rights of Ethnic and National Communities or Minorities in Croatia: "The ownership and use of insignia and symbols of ethnic communities and national communities or minorities shall be free. The official use of insignia and symbols of ethnic and national communities or minorities requires obligatory display of adequate insignia and symbols of the Republic of Croatia." The use of other flags and symbols on public buildings and in places, which are not provided for by the Constitution and the Constitutional Law, is subject to penalty, the statement said. "Members of the Interior Ministry will use their powers to remove flags and symbols and press charges against responsible legal entities, officials or citizens," said the statement, stressing that "these measures do not refer to the legitimate, legally established flag of the Serb ethnic community, if, in line with the provisions of the Constitutional Law, the flag is displayed alongside the flag of the Republic of Croatia". (hina) jn mrb /mb+jn 022116 MET mar 98