JUSTICE MINISTER COMMENTS ON HAGUE TRIBUNAL DECISION

VINKOVCI, April 30 (Hina) - Justice Minister Vesna Skare-Ozbolt said on Friday her ministry had expressed regret over the decision by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague to reject requests by retired Croatian generals Mladen Markac and Ivan Cermak for provisional release before they were interviewed by prosecutors.#L# "We are doing all that is necessary to refute the unacceptable allegations in their indictments," Skare-Ozbolt said ahead of an extraordinary county election convention of her Democratic Centre party in the eastern town of Vinkovci. "Good cooperation with the Hague tribunal is one thing, but the content of the actual indictments is completely another matter," she added. The minister said that the assurances that the Croatian Government had provided regarding the two generals were not brought into question "even by such a court decision, which is certainly temporary". As soon as the interviews with the tribunal prosecutor are over, a request for the provisional release of Markac and Cermak will be filed again, she said. "We can expect the interviews to be completed within a month and a half, after which (the two generals) would return home," Skare-Ozbolt said. (Hina) vm