GEN. PERISIC UNDER HAGUE INVESTIGATION OVER CRIMES IN HERZEGOVINA?

MOSTAR, Nov 6 (Hina) - Momcilo Perisic, a general of the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), is under investigation of the Hague tribunal over crimes against civilians committed in southern Bosnia's Mostar area in 1992, the Herzegovina-Neretva cantonal prosecutor's office in Mostar said on Thursday. #L# At the time, Perisic commanded the JNA Herzegovina Corps and reserve units from Serbia. Chief cantonal prosecutor Mirsad Resulovic told Hina the cantonal court had submitted documentation on Perisic's role in the Mostar area 11 years ago to the Hague tribunal. Resulovic said he had information that the tribunal's prosecutor's office would soon indict Perisic for war crimes against civilians in Mostar. The units Perisic commanded one night detained and then executed all 111 tenants of a Mostar building, among whom the majority were Bosnian Muslims and a few Croats, Resulovic said, adding that one boy survived and was now the witness to those events. Resulovic went on to say that Resulovic, who lives in Belgrade, was too important a figure and would therefore be tried at The Hague and not by a Bosnian court. The Hague tribunal has allowed the cantonal court in Mostar to investigate seven Serbs suspected of direct involvement in the execution of the 111 civilians in 1992, said Resulovic. The cantonal prosecutor's office in Mostar has recently launched an investigation into 55 Serbs from nearby Trebinje, among them former Trebinje mayor Bozidar Vucurevic, believed to be responsible for the killing and expulsion of Muslims and Croats from the town between 1991 and 1995, said Resulovic. He added the Trebinje case should be turned over to the Bosnian State Court in Sarajevo next year. In Croatia in 1999, Perisic was sentenced in absentia to 20 years' imprisonment for crimes against civilians committed in Zadar. (hina) ha sb