INVESTIGATING JUDGE REMANDS MLADJAN IN CUSTODY

ZAGREB, Feb 20 (Hina) - A Zagreb County Court investigating judge remanded Srdjan Mladjan, aged 21, in custody last night. During the hearing, Mladjan stood mute, his attorney Silvije Degen told reporters. Mladjen has been indicted for the murder of a police officer, holding hostages, robbery and stealing a weapon from the killed policeman. At 19:50 hours Monday night Mladjan fired three shots killing a policemen at the entrance to the building where he was hiding. The police officer came to arrest him as he failed to return to the correctional centre after a weekend off. He handed himself over to police at 01:30 hours Tuesday after locking himself with hostages in a flat. Having escaped from the Pozega penitentiary, Mladjen carried out an armed robbery of the Sisak Bank in Zagreb, stealing around 80,000 kuna. Unofficial sources said Mladjen has had a police record since he was 13. Besides two murders in Sisak in January and February 1998, for which he was serving a 10-year prison sentence, he had also committed a number of robberies. He was treated by psychiatrists on several occasions since his puberty. A psychiatrist evaluation describes him as a deeply disturbed person of the schizoid type. (hina) lml