Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) president Milorad Pupovac said on Tuesday that adopting amendments to the Criminal Code to ban Ustasha insignia and the salute "For the homeland ready" was a "civilizing issue for all political actors in Croatia," state agency Hina reported.

“Adopting amendments to the Criminal Code is a civilizing issue for all political actors in Croatia so that it (Croatia) can get rid of the legacy of World War II, especially the consequences of the Ustasha rule from 1941 to 1945,” Pupovac said ahead of Antifascist Struggle Day commemoration in Brezovica.

Asked whether adopting the amendments to the Criminal Code would be a condition for the SDSS to support the government, Pupovac said that no one should set any conditions about that.

“We can only discuss how to do it,” he said.

He said that the president of the Zagreb Jewish Community Ognjen Kraus convened a new meeting for Friday to discuss further steps towards resolving the issue of the Ustasha salute “For the homeland ready”, adding that the final version of the bill of amendments to the Criminal Code was being prepared.

Pupovac welcomed the fact that the government was the organiser of this year’s central Antifascist Struggle Day commemoration in Brezovica, stressing that this was very significant.