ZAGREB, Dec 29: Croatia’s interior minister resigned on Saturday after being pictured on a wild boar hunt with a suspected war criminal who was subsequently arrested for breaking his parole.

Several newspapers had published pictures this week of Mladen Markac — a 52-year-old former commander of the Croatian police special forces who is awaiting trial for war crimes — enjoying the hunt in north-eastern Croatia.

Markac, who was standing with a group of hunters in the photos, was accompanied by Croatian interior minister Ivica Kirin who resigned on Saturday and apologised for his actions.

Kirin’s presence had sparked greater outrage since the interior ministry is responsible for ensuring that Markac does not violate the terms of his provisional release.

“I consider it a moral act and my duty due to circumstances in which I was involved regarding the case of general Markac. I regret and offer my apology to all those that might have been harmed by it,” Kirin said in a statement.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) asked the Croatian government to immediately arrest Markac before handing him over on Sunday to a UN detention unit in the Netherlands.

“There were no problems during the arrest” of Markac at his home in Zagreb, police spokesman Krunoslav Borovec told journalists.—AFP