YU MILITARY COURT POSTPONES TRIAL OF PERISIC UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

ZAGREB/BELGRADE, Dec 24 (Hina) - The Yugoslav Military Court in Belgrade on Tuesday turned down an espionage indictment against former Serbian vice-premier Momcilo Perisic who invoked immunity from prosecution as a deputy in the federal parliament, the Belgrade media reported. #L# The head of the trial chamber in the case, Milorad Korolija, said the court could again initiate proceedings against Perisic once he lost his immunity and if a military prosecutor requested a new process. Perisic and two other Yugoslav Army officers were indicted in September for disclosing confidential military information in the interest of the United States. Last March the Yugoslav military police arrested the retired general and former army chief-of-staff during the Slobodan Milosevic regime along with the then first secretary at the US Embassy in Belgrade, David John Neighbor, in a motel outside the Yugoslav capital. The army said it had evidence that Perisic, at the time a Serbian vice-premier, had sold confidential documents to Neighbor who it claimed was the head of the CIA office in Belgrade. The authorities in Washington dismissed claims that Neighbor had been given any documents, declining to comment on his connection with the CIA. Proceedings against other indictees, Lieutenant-Colonel Miodrag Sekulic and civilian Vladimir Vlajkovic, have been conducted separately. Perisic, who heads the Movement for Democratic Serbia, did not appear in court on Tuesday. (hina) rml