Seks Axed in Row Over Croatian President's Pardons

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic's constitutional and legal adviser, Vladimir Seks, was forced out on Wednesday after it emerged that he sought a pardon for a personal contact.

Seks, an influential member of the governing centre-right Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, to which Grabar Kitarovic belonged before assuming office, became presidential adviser in April, leaving his post in parliament.

He was also one of the creators of Croatian Constitution in 1990, a commander of the crisis headquarter during the defence of eastern Croatia in 1991, public prosecutor in 1992, vice prime minister between 1992 and 1994 and chair of parliament between 2003 and 2007.

The Presidential office announced on Wednesday that Seks had been relieved of his post. Afterwards, Seks said he had been axed for urging the President to pardon someone he knew.

"I resigned due to the Vanja Goldberger [case], because I feel a moral responsibility... I advocated a pardon for him and the President felt that it was wrong, having in mind my special relationship with him," he said on Wednesday.

"I respect that [opinion] and filed in my resignation," he concluded.

The President's commission for pardons, made-up of experienced legal experts, proposes names of people whose jail sentences can be reduced on the President's authority.

Seks resigned after it emerged that Goldberger, jailed for two-and-a-half years for drug abuse and illegal possession of firearms, had been a close friend of his late son, Domagoj, and Seks' former adviser, while he was the chair of parliament.

Domagoj Seks, who was found dead on Goa Beach in India in 2005, knew Goldberger from when they ran the Autonomous Culture Centre, Attack, an NGO that promoted alternative...