MILAN MARTIC: ONLY ONE CROAT WAS KILLED IN KNIN

BELGRADE, May 4 (Hina) - The former president of the Republika Srpska Krajina, Milan Martic, told Belgrade's daily "Vecernje Novosti" that there were Croats in Knin who would come to The Hague - as protected witnesses - and testify to support his defence. Martic is indicted for the 1995 shelling of Zagreb. Martic has turned him self in to surrender to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He should depart for The Hague after Serb Orthodox Easter holidays. "I did everything to protect my Croat neighbours in crazy war times. Because of the Croatian propaganda it was not noticed that during the entire war period only one person of Croatian nationality was killed in the town of Knin," Martic told the daily. Martic said that by shelling military targets in Zagreb he saved about 10,000 Serbs and at the same time helped soldiers of the Jordan's battalion within the UN who were surrounded by the Croatian Army. The indictment, however, says that the use of weapons clearly shows that the shelling aimed at destroying people. Speaking of a plan about a peaceful solution, Martic said the then Croatian authorities assessed that Serb's readiness to cooperate could jeopardise Croatia's plan on the ethnic cleansing of Serbs and that was why Croatia decided to use force. (hina) it sb