OPEN LETTER BY COORDINATION COMMITTEE OF JEWISH COMMUNITIES

ZAGREB, July 7 (Hina) - The Coordination Committee of the Jewish communities of Croatia said in an open letter to the public on Thursday that there had been no response to the demands of all the Jewish communities in Croatia expressed in a letter of 29 November 1993 to the President, speakers of both houses of Parliament and the Prime Minister of Croatia. The letter recalled that the Committee had demanded that demolished monuments at the sites of mass crimes committed by Ustasha regime be renovated and that it had protested against the distortion of historical facts through the rehabilitation of the criminal Independent State of Croatia (NDH). "We note with pleasure that in recent months President Tudjman has repeatedly expressed sympathies with the Jewish people and commisseration with the victims of fascism and other anti-fascist views. We also welcome a move to rename Mile Budak School in Zagreb. (Mile Budak was a high official in the Ustasha fascist government during WW2) Unfortunately, at the same time there is a growing number of events in the Croatian public life which are the cause of our concern and indignation," the letter said and added that various newspapers incited national intolerance and hatred, directly offended Jewish and other nations, and extolled Ustasha generals. The Coordination Committee demanded that the Public Prosecutor, under Article 39 of the Constitution, take legal action against authors of newspaper articles rousing national intolerance and hatred whenever those were published. "We also propose that the Croatian Parliament pass special legislation that would under the above-mention article of the Constitution prohibit and stipulate penalties for the spreading of national and religious intolerance and hatred, as it has already been done in most countries of the developed democratic world," said the letter signed by president of the Coordination Committee Ognjen Kraus. 071931 MET jul 94