Military Orders Arrest of Croatia Defense Minister

The military on Wednesday ordered the defense minister of the Yugoslav republic of Croatia arrested for allegedly plotting an uprising, but an official said Croatia will refuse to carry out the order.

“Croatian police will not arrest Croatian ministers,” Slaven Letica, an adviser to Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, said in a telephone interview.

He spoke after Tudjman called an emergency meeting of the regional government to discuss the charges against Martin Spegelj, who was alleged in a military documentary broadcast Friday to have called for the killing of federal army officers.

There was no word on the results of the session.

Letica said that, by issuing the arrest warrant, the military “wants to execute pressure” on the pro-independence republic ahead of a crucial meeting today of the leaders of Yugoslavia’s six republics.

Earlier, a military prosecutor in Croatia’s capital of Zagreb told the Croatian Interior Ministry to arrest Spegelj within 24 hours, the state news agency Tanjug said.

Spegelj and four Croatians were preparing “for an armed insurrection in Croatia against Yugoslavia’s system and its security,” Tanjug quoted the military as saying.

The military prosecutor said that the four others had been arrested for alleged anti-state activities in Virovitica, a town 150 miles northwest of Zagreb.