OSIJEK COURT POSTPONES TRIAL OF SERBS SUSPECTED OF WAR CRIMES

OSIJEK, June 25 (Hina) - A trial of 58 Croatian Serbs from the eastern region of Baranja, which was to start at the Osijek County Court on Monday, was postponed because two indictees have been hospitalised in Zagreb due to exhaustion caused by a three-week hunger strike. Only six out of 58 indictees, who are accused of war crimes committed in Baranja during Croatia's Homeland War, will be tried before the Osijek court. They have been in custody for several months now. The other indictees have escaped to Yugoslavia or third countries and will be tried in absentia. The six indictees started a hunger strike on June 4 and since then have been refusing prison meals and taking only fruit and vitamins. They say the strike is aimed at warning about "the court discrimination against Serbs, long trials, sealed indictments and the non-observance of the Erdut Accords to which the Government has bound itself," reads a statement issued by the Organisation for Civil Initiative from Osijek. A 98-page indictment charges the accused with war crimes committed in Baranja. The indictment refers to 58 of 112 Baranja Serbs who were under investigation as war crime suspects. The judiciary has given up the prosecution of the other 54 suspects due to lack of evidence. A new trial has been scheduled for July 2. (hina) sb rml