MOSTAR BISHOP SAYS BOSNIA SHOULD ALSO PROVIDE GUARANTEES FOR SIX INDICTEES

MOSTAR, April 7 (Hina) - Bosnia-Herzegovina should also provide guarantees to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague to grant a request for provisional release for six Bosnian Croats who surrendered voluntarily earlier this week, Mostar Bishop Ratko Peric said in a local television programme on Tuesday night.#L# Commenting on the joint indictment against Jadranko Prlic, Bruno Stojic, Valentin Coric, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj Petkovic and Berislav Pusic, who are charged with persecution of Bosnian Muslims during the 1990s war, Peric said that "too many Croat political and military officials have been criticised and accused because of Herceg-Bosna." "Herceg-Bosna is a political concept within Bosnia-Herzegovina that struggles for Croats in all areas where they live," the bishop said, adding that he was against Herceg-Bosna being referred to as "self-styled". Peric compared Herceg-Bosna to the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) between 1941 and 1945, which he said had the support of the Croatian people at the time. "When the NDH fell, it started being called self-styled," the bishop said, adding that a similar thing happened to Herceg-Bosna, which existed from 1991 to 1995 when the Dayton peace agreement was signed. Speaking of the Hague tribunal, Peric said that it was a tool for achieving political goals rather than a court of justice. (Hina) vm