"I'm sure Croatia won't allow that nor is there a way ... that someone who is not responsible is tried and punished for war crimes," he told the press.

Josipovic said those indictments had been issued by a former military prosecutor's office, that Croatia had already dealt with such indictments and that they arrived long ago. "I'm confident that we will clear things up."

Asked if those indictments were a blow to his regional policy, Josipovic said he "wouldn't say it is so." "That indictment, I hear, arrived long ago. On the other hand, the procedure simply has to be wrapped up."

He said one should remember a previous case in which "things were cleared up through cooperation." Asked if he was referring to the case of war veteran Tihomir Purda, Josipovic said he was. "That was an example of how bad and wrongful accusations by the military prosecutor's office were cleared up through cooperation."

Josipovic is in New York attending the UN General Assembly.

Former Croatian Interior Minister Ivan Vekic said today he received through Osijek's Municipal Court an indictment issued by a Belgrade court's war crimes department which accused him and another 40 people of war crimes and genocide. He said it was a copied indictment issued by Serbia's military prosecutor's office in 1992. Among the other accused are Croatian Deputy Parliament Speaker Vladimir Seks and war veterans from Vukovar.