FORMER YUGOSLAV ARMY LIUTENANT COLONEL TO BE ISSUED WITH

KARLOVAC, July 20 (Hina) - The Karlovac County Court on Friday forwarded a request to the Interior Ministry to issue an international arrest warrant after Cedomir Bulat, former Yugoslav Army (JNA) Lieutenant Colonel. A county state attorney moved for the issuing of the arrest warrant due to a reasonable suspicion that Bulat committed crimes against humanity and international justice, war crime against civilians and war prisoners. He is also suspected of demolishing cultural and historic monuments. Karlovac police gathered new evidence and pressed criminal charges against Bulat on July 5 this year for the 1991 demolition of Slunj. It was established from collected documentation that Cedomir Bulat was the commander of the Tactic group 2, which included JNA units in Slunj and Veljun and Plasko territorial defence units. Therefore, Bulat is suspected of issuing orders to subordinate units to needlessly launch air attacks and machine-gun fire in Slunj and surrounding area, without a particular military target. The charges read that between November 16, 1991 and January 15, 1992, Bulat, contrary to international conventions on war justice, allowed his units to intimidate, terrorise, offend, humiliate and kill civilians and rob and destroy civil properties. He is also suspected of giving inhumane treatment to armed forces' members who laid down arms, as well as of demolishing churches in the Slunj region, Cetingrad and Rakovica. Cedomir Bulat, as the commander of the 21st Kordun corps during the Croatian military and police operation of Storm, together with the entire corps of the so-called Republic Srpska's Krajina army, surrendered to Croatian General Petar Stipetic after the unsuccessful battle on August 9, 1995. Bulat is also suspected of participating in the Serbian aggression on Croatia during the entire war, first as a JNA member and later as a member of Republic Srpska's Krajina paramilitary formations. (hina) np it