"My duty was to assist in the cooperation with the Hague tribunal as required by the Constitutional Law on Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal," Mesic said in an interview with Croatian Television.

Mesic said he was now being attacked by "all those losers I beat in elections."

When asked if he was afraid of an investigation in connection with the transcripts, which has been announced by Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, Mesic said that it would be good if Prime Minister Kosor and her Cabinet accepted and read the Constitutional Law on Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal to see what it was about.

"All Croatian citizens and all institutions must cooperate with the Hague tribunal," Mesic said. He noted that investigating and accusing someone of cooperation with the Hague tribunal would be unconstitutional.

"They are attacking those who cooperated with the Hague tribunal while they should be investigating those who did not cooperate with the Hague tribunal and who, before I took office, removed certain documents and transcripts because they thought that they should not be disclosed to the public," the former president said.

Mesic said there was no reason for anyone, including him, who complied with the Croatian Constitution and laws to be afraid. "It's an illusion that cooperation with the Hague tribunal can be damaging."

He reiterated that Ivan Jarnjak, former head of the National Security Office, and Miroslav Tudjman, son of the late President Franjo Tudjman, had taken some of the transcripts before he took office as President of the Republic. He remarked that those transcripts perhaps contained something that might help the defence of generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac before the Hague tribunal.

When asked if he was getting threats, Mesic said he was not. He said he had received a few "illiterate and insulting" letters, and added that he did not feel that his security had been stepped up.