Minister quits over hunting trip with war crimes suspect
Croatia’s interior minister has resigned after being photographed on a hunting holiday with a war crimes suspect.
Ivica Kirin expressed his “regrets and apology” for the incident in a letter to prime minister Ivo Sanader after photos were published in Croatian newspapers showing him with retired general Mladen Markac, facing trial over the 1995 killings of dozens of Serb rebels, and a dead wild boar.
Markac, 52, was arrested at his home in Zagreb yesterday and was in custody, police spokesman Krunoslav Borovec said.
The United Nations war crimes tribunal ordered his return to the Netherlands for breaching conditions of his 2004 release while he awaited trial.
Mr Kirin’s ministry was responsible for controlling the movements of Markac, who had been told he could not leave the capital Zagreb without authorisation.
Markac was granted conditional release in 2004 while awaiting trial on charges including murder, inhumane acts and cruel treatment. He will be tried with General Ante Gotovina, the country’s top military commander, and his right hand man, General Ivan Cermak. They will be the highest-ranked Croatian suspects to go before the tribunal.
The three are accused of orchestrating the killing of at least 150 Serbs and the expulsion of thousands of others in Zagreb’s 1995 offensive to regain lands seized by Serb rebels in the 1991 war.
They have pleaded not guilty to the charges. A trial date has not been set, with the next pre-trial hearing scheduled for January 18.
Although the court is closed for its winter recess, the tribunal said that a duty judge had been alerted that Markac had broken the terms of his release.
Mr Sanader wants Croatia to join the European Union and is determined to show his government carries out any request by The Hague court. The tribunal said in a statement it expected Markac’s transfer to the Netherlands today.
Mr Kirin had been interior minister for three years but it was not clear if he would be in the new Sanader government.
