An article in Reuters reads that Croatia's Parliament Speaker Boris Sprem died during treatment for blood cancer in the United States.
"Sprem, 56, became speaker last December. He was first diagnosed with cancer almost two years ago. Before becoming Speaker, he was president of the city assembly in the capital Zagreb."
The French AFP reports that the Social Democratic president of the Croatian parliament died of multiple myeloma in an American hospital. It also reports that the Croatian media describe Sprem as "the most discreet and most moderate politician".
The Slovenian news agency STA recalls that Sprem went to the USA for further treatment after undergoing surgery in Croatia in June and that Deputy Parliament Speaker Josip Leko has been serving as the acting Sabor speaker since then.
The Austrian APA news agency reports that Sprem used to be the chief-of-staff in the office of the then president Stjepan Mesic.
The Chinese news agency Xinhua runs an article reading that "Sprem died at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, the United States, where he had been receiving treatment since Aug. 23" for an extremely malignant form of multiple myeloma. The agency also reports that Sprem was born on April 14, 1956. He graduated from the Faculty of Law in Zagreb and was unanimously elected Speaker of the Croatian Parliament on Dec. 22, 2011.
The Serbian news agency Tanjug reports that the body of the deceased Croatian parliament speaker will be transferred to Croatia in the following days.