Bandic

The Croatian parliamentary committee for war veterans' affairs endorsed a proposal on Tuesday to establish a military graveyard in the central Mirogoj cemetery in Zagreb for soldiers who fought for the 1941-45 Independent State of Croatia, NDH, a Nazi-backed puppet state.

Rather than being a work-horse for the people of Zagreb, Bandic is "a Trojan horse working against the citizens," Tomasevic told some 4,000 protesters at the site.

Avoiding old ideological divides

Tomislav Tomasevic at a protest against a construction project in Zagreb's Varsavska street, February 2010. Photo: Flickr/tomislav medak.

Whoever wins, experts agree he or she faces a tough task running a city dominated for so long by Bandic, whose energetic, six-term rule over Zagreb was marred by a string of corruption scandals.

The mayor of the Croatian capital has been released from custody after a judge accepted an offer of 2 million euro in bail.

Earlier this month, Bandic offered a house worth around 750,000 euro for his release from detention.

Eleven others arrested in the same case have also been released from custody with bails ranging from 13,000 to 587,000 euro.

Police detained Bandic and several of his associates on Sunday on suspicion of involvement in criminal activities in the Zagreb administration and the city-owned company Zagreb Holding, which manages local services.

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