Karamarko made this statement during a visit to Valbandon in Istria, where he attended a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the special police unit Bak - Istria.

Asked by reporters to explain his statement, made at a panel discussion on the remembrance day for the victims of totalitarian regimes in Dubrovnik earlier this week, Karamarko said, "I said that I was an antifascist, but that for me a crime is a crime. The Croat people's experience with Communism was also bloody, so I'm also an anticommunist. I am an anti-totalitarianist," said the minister.

Asked why the prosecution of crimes committed by the communist regime was launched only now, instead of 20 years ago, Karamarko said that he had been minister of the interior only two and a half years and that the prosecution of communist crimes was indeed a job for the Ministry of the Interior.

"However, the police is not the only link in the chain. There are the state prosecutor's office and investigative courts and we all have to act together to be efficient. This applies also to the latest case, that of (Josip) Boljkovac. Some cases are being investigated and I believe they will be brought to completion," said Karamarko.

The minister would not say at what stage the investigation into Josip Boljkovac, accused of war crimes after World War II, was, but national police director Oliver Grbic confirmed that the Karlovac County Police Department and the Police Directorate were cooperating in the investigation.

"The investigation is in the final stage and in the next few days final consultations will be held with the prosecutor's office in Karlovac," Grbic said.

Boljkovac was a member of Tito's Partisan forces in WWII, after which he served as head of the OZNA secret service in Karlovac. After Croatia declared independence, he was its first minister of the interior and today he is retired.