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Top official resigns after photograph hits Croatian press

Croatia's interior minister has resigned after being photographed on a hunting vacation with a war crimes suspect facing a trial over the 1995 slayings of dozens of Serb rebels.

Ivica Kirin quit on Saturday and expressed his "regrets and apology" for the incident in a letter to Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader after photos were published in Croatian newspapers showing him with retired General Mladen Markac and a dead wild boar.

Markac, 52, was arrested at his home in Zagreb on Saturday and was in custody, police spokesman Krunoslav Borovec said. The UN war crimes tribunal ordered his return to the Netherlands for breaching conditions of his 2004 release while he awaits trial.

Kirin's ministry was responsible for controlling the movements of Markac, who had been told he could not leave the capital Zagreb without authorization.

Markac was granted conditional release in 2004 while awaiting trial on charges including murder, inhumane acts and cruel treatment.

Markac will be tried together with General Ante Gotovina, the country's top military commander, and his right hand man, General Ivan Cermak.

They will be the highest-ranked Croatian suspects to go before the tribunal.

The three are accused of orchestrating the killing of at least 150 Serbs and the expulsion of thousands of others in Zagreb's 1995 offensive to regain lands seized by Serb rebels in the 1991 war.

They have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

A trial date has not been set, with the next pretrial hearing scheduled for Jan. 18.

Although the court is closed for its winter recess, the tribunal said that a duty judge had been alerted that Markac had violated the terms of his release.

Sanader wants Croatia to join the EU and is determined to show his government fully accedes to any request by The Hague court.

The tribunal said in a statement that it expected Markac's transfer to the Netherlands to take place yesterday.

Kirin had been interior minister for three years but it was not clear if he would be in the new government of Sanader. Sanader has not yet named his new Cabinet following Nov. 25 general elections.
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