SLJIVANCANIN TO ENTER HIS PLEA NEXT THURSDAY

ZAGREB/THE HAGUE, July 3 (Hina) - Former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) major Veselin Sljivancanin will enter his plea before the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague next Thursday as his attorneys failed to appear in court today. #L# The tribunal's secretariat stated that nine days ago it received requests by two attorneys who had been given power of attorney by Sljivancanin. However, it was not clear from the requests if they spoke one of the tribunal's two official languages, which is a precondition for granting the status of an attorney, a representative of the tribunal said. The tribunal's secretariat appointed an attorney to represent Sljivancanin during his initial appearance in the court. Sljivancanin today refused to enter his plea, saying he wanted to be represented by the attorneys he had chosen. The trial chamber accepted Sljivancanin's request and he will make his initial appearance next week. Sljivancanin was indicted in 1995, together with JNA commanders Mile Mrksic and Miroslav Radic, for the 1991 massacre of at least 200 Croats at Ovcara outside Vukovar. The prosecution said at yesterday's status conference it would request that the indictments against Radic and Sljivancanin be amended and that a single indictment against the three be issued, as well as that they be put on trial together. (hina) rml