(Hina) - Croatia will protect the rights of its citizens as it has been doing from the very start and it will provide all the necessary assistance to members of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) arrested in Orašje, Foreign and European Affairs Minister Davor Ivo Stier said on Monday, underlining the importance of de-politicising the judiciary.
"Croatia has made it very clear that it will always protect the rights of its citizens. We have been doing so from the very beginning," Stier said after an event dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Croatia's membership of the Council of Europe.
"We must do our best to make the judiciary in Southeast European countries function. Our message is clear - every crime must be punished but the judiciary must be de-politicised and judicial matters must not be manipulated," Stier said, adding that Croatia supported all reforms that had to be carried out by countries aspiring to join the EU, including Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Stier said that Croatia, too, had to meet a number of criteria as part of the policy area No. 23 in Croatia-EU accession talks, and that countries of Southeast Europe, too, have to meet them.
As for the HVO members arrested on war crimes charges, Stier said that Croatian institutions were in touch with them and that they would be given all the assistance the state can offer.