BOSNIAN BANK REPS. URGE REPLACING HIGH REPRESENTATIVE PETRITSCH

MOSTAR, April 17 (Hina) - Representatives of Bosnia's Hercegovacka Banka on Tuesday wrote to the Peace Implementation Council seeking the urgent replacement of the international community's High Representative in Bosnia, Wolfgang Petritsch, whose decisions violate human rights and the law, they claim. Petritsch on April 6 established transitional administration in the Mostar-based, privately-owned bank. "The High Representative's decision is in direct contrast with the UN Charter on human rights and freedoms, and it violates the basic principles of the UN Charter and all international conventions on human rights and freedoms," read an open letter from the bank's management, stockholders and staff. The bank's representatives claim Petritsch's suspension of the stockholders, management and staff breaches the basic human rights to work and life warranted by the UN Charter and international conventions. The High Representative has been accused of suspending the legal system, the legal management of the Banking Agency of Bosnia's Croat-Muslim federation, and of causing damage to Hercegovacka Bank's reputation through unfounded statements about plunder, crime, and corruption in the bank. A union of workers employed in Sokol, a company based in the southern Bosnian town of Mostar, said today that Petritsch's blockade of Hercegovacka Banka had undermined Sokol's activity, leaving 600 employees without wages for April. The union announced peaceful protests and road blocks unless the bank were enabled to return to normal operations as soon as possible. (hina) ha sb