Croatian police minister resigns

ZAGREB, Croatia, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Croatia's police minister has resigned after taking part in a boar hunt with a war crimes suspect who was awaiting trial before a U.N. tribunal.

Croatia's Interior (Police) Minister Ivica Kirin and Gen. Mladen Markac, former police chief charged with war crimes before the U.N. tribunal in the Netherlands, went on a pre-Christmas boar hunting outside Zagreb, Croatian news media reported.

Responding to a query by the The Hague war crimes tribunal, the Croatian government Friday confirmed Markac and Kirin, along with other officials, went hunting boars, an outing the tribunal hadn't been advised of as parole terms specify, the Serbian news agency FoNet said Monday.

Kirin resigned Saturday and Markac was flown Sunday to his detention cell in Scheveningen, outside The Hague, to wait for trial.

Markac, 52, has been charged with war crimes against Croatian Serb civilians in 1995.