TRIAL TO HVO GENERAL ANDABAK CONTINUES

RIJEKA, Jan 21 (Hina) - The trial to a Bosnian Croat Defence Council (HVO) general, Ivan Andabak, and British citizen Dexter Farrow for drug trafficking continued on Monday before a panel of judges at the Rijeka County Court, with Judge Djurdja Jovanic presiding. Andabak and Farrow are indicted of smuggling narcotics from South America via Europe to Africa. County State Prosecutor Drago Marincel charged the two with the crime after police discovered 660 kg of cocaine in a container in Rijeka Port in late 1999. The trial continued after a 11-month pause, during which period police waited for the bill of lading for the container containing the cocaine. Ljubo Kostic, the attorney for Farrow, who is being tried in absentia, asked that the exact identity of his client be established, stressing that Farrow had been acquitted in Great Britain for the same crime. The panel of judges president heard two witnesses today, while the other four failed to turn up at the trial. After Andabak's attorney, Petar Sale, objected to the reading of witness statements heard so far, Judge Jovanic adjourned the trial. Sale told reporters he was dissatisfied with the fact his client was still detained after January 7, without any court decision. He assessed that the trial was a farce, and "its chief goal is to take Andabak to The Hague (before the international criminal tribunal) to try him for the murder of (Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina Deputy Interior Minister) Jozo Leutar. Attorney Sale stressed Andabak should be released to defend himself in freedom because of his frail health, and added his client had nowhere to run. The trial will resume January 31. (hina) lml sb