LOWER HOUSE CLOSES APRIL SESSION

ZAGREB, April 19 (Hina) - The Croatian Parliament's House of Representatives on Friday concluded the April session. The House passed several laws which had been discussed this week. One of these was the Referendum Act, which stipulates the procedures for organising state, local and advisory referenda. The Act grants all Croatian citizens over 18, whether they reside in Croatia or abroad, the right to vote at state referenda. For local referenda, the suffrage is limited to the residents of a particular municipality or county. Consultative referenda are called by the Government for the purpose of learning about the public opinion on the functioning of local government and self-government units. The House also appointed a committee to prepare commemorative festivities in honour of Bleiburg and Way of the Cross victims on May 15. The committee is chaired by the President of the Parliament, Vlatko Pavletic. In May 1945, soon after the official end of the Second World War, British forces handed thousands of Croatian soldiers (who belonged to the Independent State of Croatia) and civilians to Tito's Communist partisans and the then Yugoslav People's Army (the JNA) in the Bleiburg field. Many of the extradited soldiers and civilians were killed by the JNA and partisans without any trial. (hina) jn ha as 191912 MET apr 96