PERISIC SAYS HE RESIGNED TO SAVE SERBIAN GOVERNMENT

BELGRADE, March 20 (Hina) - Momcilo Perisic, former Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and president of the Movement for Democratic Serbia, on Wednesday again dismissed claims that he gave US diplomat John David Neighbor classified state documents. Perisic said he resigned from his post as Deputy Prime Minister "to save the government and to be able to defend myself if I am indicted." #L# "I have neither given nor taken anything," Perisic said at a news conference, but refused to say if he had met Neighbor previously and what they were talking about on the night between Thursday and Friday last week, when they were arrested by the Yugoslav Army Main Staff security department on suspicion of espionage. Reporters were not told if someone from the Serbian government knew about Perisic's contacts with Neighbor. Perisic resigned from the post of Deputy Prime Minister last Tuesday. He told the media he would not refer to his immunity as a parliamentary representative. The presidency of Serbia's ruling DOS coalition last night held a meeting without representatives of Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia. The presidency requested that Kostunica replace general Aleksandar Tomic, head of the Army security department, who allegedly failed to inform Chief-of-Staff Nebojsa Pavkovic of Perisic's arrest and was hiding information relevant for national security from the state leadership for months. "Nedjeljni telegraf" of Wednesday stated that Yugoslav President Kostunica showed the state leadership at the meeting on the night between Sunday and Monday a film showing Perisic taking USD1,000 from the US diplomat and handing him some documents. (hina) rml