The body of deceased Parliament Speaker Boris Sprem will be flown aboard a plane from the USA to Croatia on Wednesday when the national parliament will also hold a commemoration, while the state funeral is scheduled for Thursday in Zagreb's central cemetery of Mirogoj.
The arrival of the plane with the coffin at Zagreb Airport is expected at 1300 hrs on Wednesday.
At the airport will be President Ivo Josipovic, Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, deputy prime ministers, Parliament Deputy Speaker Josip Leko, who is serving as the acting parliament speaker, and other senior state officials, as well as officials of the Social Democratic Party, of which Sprem was a member.
The coffin will be driven by hearse in a motorcade from the airport to the mortuary at Mirogoj at 1500 hrs.
The commemoration in the parliament is due to start at 1700 hrs on Wednesday, and President Josipovic and Parliament Deputy Speaker Leko are expected to address the event.
The SDP will organise a commemoration for its long-standing member and senior official at 2000 hrs in the party's headquarters in Zagreb.
On Thursday, Sprem's casket will lie in state from 0700 to 1130 hrs on Thursday in Mirogoj's morgue, with groups of six officials standing guard at the casket every five minutes.
The last rites are to start at noon on Thursday, with eulogies to be given by PM Milanovic and President Josipovic. The religious rites will be conducted by Auxiliary Zagreb Bishop Mijo Gorski, who will also say mass for the Sprem in St. Mark's Church at 1800 hrs on Thursday.
The Croatian government adopted a decision on Monday declaring October 4 a day of mourning on the passing of Parliament Speaker Sprem. Sprem, 56, who suffered from multiple myeloma, died at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, United States, early Sunday morning, Central European Time.
