Croatian PM sacks interior, justice ministers

SOFIA, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader announced at an extraordinary news conference on Monday evening that he would dismiss Interior Minister Berislav Roncevic, Justice Minister Ana Lovrin and Chief of Police Marijan Benko from office following daylight murder in downtown Zagreb, Croation News Agency reported.

Roncevic will be replaced by the head of the Security and Intelligence Agency, Tomislav Karamarko. Sanader said he had proposed to parliament to appoint Ivan Simonovic as the new justice minister. The prime minister also announced that Benko will be replaced by Vladimir Faber.

Sanader stressed that Simonovic was a non-party man and a known expert, reiterating that "it is not important who will be appointed or which party they come from. It is important that all of us together crack down on crime and send a message to criminals that this can no longer happen."

The prime minister said that this afternoon his cabinet held consultations and that he wanted to send a message to the public that the government and state authorities will do everything they can to discover the perpetrators of this heinous murder.

He also announced the adoption of a so-called anti-mafia act on the model in other European countries.

"We will not allow, under any costs, Croatia and Zagreb or any other city to be an unsafe place to live. We will not allow organized crime to create the impression that anything can be done and that there will be no sanctions. It seems there are attempts to create this impression, which is why we will embark on the most determined fight against organized crime, against the mafia," Sanader said.

The PM said he required the police and all competent institutions to do the job they were appointed to do, adding that the replacements were a message that the state authorities would crack down on organized crime.