Former Croatian president Stjepan Mesic denied during the court hearing in the Zagreb Municipal Court that his presidential campaign was funded by the Albanian lobby.

During a trial on defamation charges he filed against political scientist and publicist Darko Petricic, Mesic said on Monday that he had never seen the Albanians Petricic mentioned.

Pointing out that there is a report and audit findings which testify of the funds used in his first presidential campaign and that he does not know anything about certain financiers and amounts, Mesic said that his electoral board was in charge of such issues, but he added that no significant contributions came from Albanians.