LAWYER: ANTE JELAVIC GOES ON HUNGER STRIKE

MOSTAR/SARAJEVO, April 22 (Hina) - A former member of Bosnia-Herzegovina's collective presidency, Ante Jelavic, who has been detained in the Kula prison (outside Sarajevo) for three months, on Thursday went on hunger strike protesting against the failure of competent bodies to respect a decision by the Constitutional Court on temporary suspension of criminal proceedings against him in the case of Hercegovacka Banka, Jelavic's lawyer Josip Muselimovic told Hina today.#L# Muselimovic added that the Court on 19 April also ruled that criminal proceedings against the second suspect in this case, a former defence minister, Miroslav Prce, should also be temporarily suspended. Jelavic and Prce, who are accused of involvement in financial wrongdoings in the Mostar-based bank, have been in custody in the Kula prison. "The decision of the Constitutional Court is binding, which means that Jelavic and Prce can no longer be kept in custody and must be released," the lawyer said. Muselimovic said that the temporary suspension of the investigation would be in force until Bosnia's Constitutional Court made a final ruling on whether the law on immunity of the Bosnian Federation was in compliance with the constitution. The Constitutional Court last Tuesday stated that the decision on temporary suspension referred to an investigation which was being conducted before the Sarajevo Canton Court. This court launched an investigation against Jelavic and other senior officials of the Croatian Democratic Union of BiH at the time when there was still no state court which later took over the case. The president of the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Martin Raguz, described Muselimovic's statements as arbitrary. "The Court's Penal Council is yet to see to which file the Constitutional Court's decision refers, as two processes are being conducted against Jelavic," Raguz was quoted by a local paper in Banja Luka. (Hina) ms