“I believe it’s an isolated case because otherwise that would be seen and known. Police must not act like that and that’s obviously overstepping one’s authority,” he told the press in Osijek.
“But we must also talk about the police officers who are doing a very tough job every day year-round for modest pay and are protecting the Croatian border. That’s a tough job in the interest of the wider community. I wouldn’t want the police as a service to be stigmatised because of this,” he added.
“Somebody has to protect the border, border equals state. People coming to the border without authorisation and want to cross it are committing a criminal offence. Those are facts,” he said, calling for resolving the recently reported case of Croatian police beating illegal migrants.
“If accountability is established, there should be consequences and punishment, but a problem remains. People, perhaps even families, gather on the Croatian border every day, who want to cross the border and go somewhere else, but that’s illegal,” he added.
Asked if there was individual or command responsibility in the latest case, Milanović said he did not know.
“I don’t believe anyone ordered that. It’s evidently an isolated case. I hope we have solved that. The border problem remains. We see that some states, our partners in the European Union a little more to the east, would like the European Union’s border to have a fence. I wouldn’t want that. I find it inhumane.”
The president was in Osijek to attend a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the Osijek Independent Air Platoon.
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