FOREIGN MINISTRY REJECTS PARAGA'S CLAIMS

( Editorial: --> 7704 ) ZAGREB, Dec 11 (Hina) - The Croatian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Thursday rejecting claims by Croatian Party of Rights 1861 President Dobroslav Paraga made at a news conference on December 9. Commenting on his arrest by Austrian police on the Slovenian- Austrian border on December 4, Paraga said that Croatian authorities were obstructing his cooperation with representatives of the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague through third countries. He accused the Foreign Ministry of spreading untruths about him abroad. "We resolutely reject the claim that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the diplomatic missions, as constituent elements of the foreign affairs service, are spreading abroad information about Mr. Paraga or any other Croatian citizens. On the contrary, they work on the full protection of interests of the Croatian state and all its citizens abroad," the statement said. "The bodies of the foreign affairs service of the Republic of Croatia will always be ready to provide protection, if necessary, for Mr. Paraga, as well as for any other citizen of the Republic of Croatia, guaranteed to them by international conventions." The statement said that the Croatian Embassy in Vienna had received an official notification from Austrian authorities of the arrest of Mr. Paraga, saying that Mr. Paraga had been denied entry into Austria in 1995 and that the lawsuit he had filed against that decision was still being considered. The statement said that the Croatian embassy in Vienna had learnt of the arrest from the Austrian press and that Paraga had entered Austria as a Slovenian citizen. "Mr. Paraga did not inform about his arrest the diplomatic missions of the Republic of Croatia in the Republic of Austria, and therefore he could not be provided with protection guaranteed by international conventions," the statement said. (hina) vm jn 112134 MET dec 97