SERB "VERITAS" ASSOCIATION CLAIMS 2,996 SERBS WENT MISSING IN CROATIA

BELGRADE, Jan 15 (Hina) - Belgrade's association for Serb refugees and missing persons in Croatia said Monday 2,996 Serbs went missing in Croatia. According to Croatia's official information, however, 1,001 persons of Serb nationality are missing, and data by the International Committee of the Red Cross shows the whereabouts of 797 Serbs were unknown. Veritas's president Savo Strbac told a news conference in Belgrade the organisation also registered 1,450 burial sites in Croatia where at least a half of the missing persons could be exhumed and identified. Strbac accused the Croatian authorities of "lacking interest for establishing the exact number of missing and killed people". As regards the red cross, Strbac said this humanitarian organisation "is not capable of initiating an investigation without the consent of Croatian authorities". Last week the Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO) for human rights warned about the lack of authenticity of Veritas's data. In one of its brochures, the HHO explained, the Belgrade association listed more than twice as many Serb victims in the so- called Serb krajina than HHO activists on the field established it to be the case. The organisation warned Veritas was still using its verified method of pronouncing members of the krajina paramilitary troops as civilian victims and living people as dead. (hina) lml