Commenting on President Ivo Josipovic's statement that the law invalidating some legal acts of the former Yugoslav army, the former Yugoslavia, and Serbia which relate to the 1991-95 war in Croatia was harmful, Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said on Saturday it was the government's position that there were no reasons for a Constitutional lawsuit, as the said law was in accordance with international law and the Croatian Constitution which defends the sovereignty and the rule of law.
The PM recalled that the president said he would file a constitutional lawsuit as soon the law invalidating Serbian war crimes indictments was signed. She said it was the president's right to do so.
Kosor reiterated that Josipovic never commented on the Serbian law from 1993 and amendments to that law adopted in 2010 were contentions, adding that the law adopted by the Croatian parliament on Friday referred to the said Serbian law.
We have to protect the sovereignty of the Croatian state and Croatia's stability and we must stop the prosecution of Croatian war veterans, Kosor said. The law invalidates legal act adopted by the Yugoslav People's Army, which was the aggressor, Kosor said expressing hope the Constitutional Court would say the law was in line with the Constitution.
The Croatian parliament on Friday adopted the law declaring null and void certain legal acts of the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) and Serbia, with five abstentions.
The law invalidates legal acts of the JNA, its judicial agencies and the judicial agencies of the former SFRY and of Serbia referring to the 1991-1995 Homeland Defence War in Croatia.
Kosor was also asked to comment on statements by the president and a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Zoran Milanovic and Zeljko Jovanovic, who said that stripping Jovanovic of immunity from prosecution is a small coup and "a shot at parliamentary democracy".
For them, an attempt to stop hate speech and speech which encourages violence and retaliation is alway a shot at parliamentary democracy or rape, Kosor said.
The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) pressed charges against Jovanovic following his statements of 17 September 2011 when the HDZ had a party convention and Jovanovic said that most of the delegates at the convention, and there were 10,000 delegates there, were candidates for going to prison, Kosor said adding that neither Jovanovic nor anyone else had the right to say that.
She however, announced the possibility of withdrawing the lawsuit should SDP deputies apologise for their statements about the HDZ.
