CROAT-MUSLIM ENTITY OFFICIAL ON EXHUMATIONS AT MOSTAR CEMETERY

MOSTAR, Oct 30 (Hina) - The commission of the Federation of Bosnia- Herzegovina for missing persons has confirmed that the bodies of a number of former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) members have been exhumed at a cemetery in Mostar's suburb of Medjine, but it has dismissed claims that the bodies were connected to the Lora port in Split and the Croatian army, as claimed by some Montenegrin media. #L# "Some 15 bodies have been exhumed at the Medjine cemetery, including 11 members of the so-called Niksic group, who were JNA reservists deployed in Herzegovina in 1992," said a deputy chairman of the commission, Marko Jurisic. He added that the exhumation was performed by members of the Bosnian Serb entity's commission for missing and detained persons. "According to our information, the members of the so-called Niksic group were imprisoned at the Mostar post office by members of the Croatian Defence Council, which in 1992 was the only army besides the JNA in Mostar," Jurisic said. After the arrest, members of the Niksic group disappeared without trace. "The Croatian army has nothing to do with this case and it is not true that the Niksic group was brought from Split's Lora port," says Jurisic. The Montenegrin media have reported that the bodies exhumed at the Mostar cemetery belong to Montenegrin reservists who upon their arrest in Mostar were taken to the prison at Split's port of Lora, where they were tortured and killed. The media have also claimed that their bodies were transferred to the Mostar cemetery five to six years ago. (hina) rml