Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor on Monday said she had great hopes that Bosnian state institutions would take into account the fact that Croatian state institutions have established that Vukovar war veteran Tihomir Purda, who is in detention custody in Bosnia, is not guilty.

PM Kosor also said that the fight for the truth about war veterans would not abate, adding that this was "yet another new battle for Croatia".

"The most important thing is that Croatian state institutions in the proceedings, which were in line with Croatia's legislation, have established that Croatian war veteran Tihomir Purda is not guilty and that he only defended his homelands and his town Vukovar. I am confident that this fact will be taken into account by all those who are required to, notably state institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Purda is (currently being held in detention custody)," Kosor said in Podstrana, near Split, where she laid a foundation stone for the construction of a residential building with 16 units for the families of killed, imprisoned and missing war veterans and for disabled veterans.

Addressing those present, Kosor said she wanted the proceedings against Purda to be completed as soon as possible and for him to return to Vukovar to his children and family. She reiterated the Croatian institutions have established that his testimony was extorted from him by force in a Serb-run concentration camp where he had been brutally tortured.

"This present moment is in a way a new battle for Croatia, I would dare to say," Kosor said, adding that Croatian war veterans can live "with their heads up high",

"Croatian war veterans are members of the victorious Croatian Army. Aggression was launched against Croatia and we will not allow anyone to change that fact," the PM said.

Asked to comment on opposition leader Zoran Milanovic's statement that the Croatian government had betrayed Purda, Kosor said this was an act of politicising.

"I will not comment on Mr. Milanovic's statements because his comments on war veterans belong to the time when the Social Democratic Party was in power and when veterans' rights had been cut which is why many veterans had sued the state and won because their rights had been unlawfully reduced," Kosor said, adding that Milanovic was now using veterans to politicise.

The prime minister was accompanies by War Veterans' Minister Tomislav Ivic, Construction Minister Branko Bacic and by her newly appointed advisor on military issues, General Damir Krsticevic.