President Ivo Josipovic said on Friday he was puzzled by ruling coalition MP Andrija Hebrang's statement that it was politically unfair and slanderous to claim that Josipovic's reconciliation policy had contributed to the release of Croatian war veteran Tihomir Purda, as the reconciliation policy was also the policy of the incumbent government.
Can anyone imagine that Purda would have been released if Croatia's policy was the one being advocated by Hebrang, Josipovic asked, adding that cooperation between state prosecutors' offices and judiciaries was possible only in a peaceful, understanding and tolerant environment.
Hebrang is an official of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party. Josipovic said the HDZ would have to review the tendencies within its ranks if two of its MPs, the other being Josip Djakic, spoke against the government's policy.
Purda was released from extradition custody in Bosnia and Herzegovina yesterday after Serbia dropped war crimes charges against him and its request for his extradition.
Josipovic said Croatian State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic deserved credit for Purda's release, adding that Bajic had made the brave decision to accept criminal prosecution and very deftly presented Croatia's evidence and brought the whole case to a happy end.
Hebrang said earlier today that Jospovic's reconciliation policy was to blame for Purda's arrest in Bosnia on January 5 and that such a policy should have demanded the dismissal of all charges based on statements given in Serbian detention camps under duress.
President Josipovic didn't do that and that's what I blame him for, Hebrang told reporters earlier today.
