CHARGES FILED AGAINST BJELOVAR POLICEMEN FOR WAR CRIMES

BJELOVAR, Aug 24 (Hina) - The Bjelovar-Bilogora County police on Friday pressed charges against three retired and one of its active officers for war crimes against civilians and prisoners-of-war committed in 1991. The head of the interior ministry crime department, Dragutin Cestar, told reporters three suspects had been arrested and taken to an investigating judge, while the fourth was being looked for. Cestar did not name the suspects, stating only their initials. The four are suspected of having forced in October 1991 seven men from a police station in the northern town of Bjelovar into a wood, shooting six dead and seriously injuring the seventh. Cestar said an investigation conducted at the time provided information leading to the possible culprits. Shortly thereafter, however, the investigation was interrupted, and charges were pressed with the state prosecutor's office against an unknown perpetrator. Nobody worked on the case until May 2000, when the county state prosecutor's office reopened the case. Further investigation will show who hindered the investigation back in 1991, said Cestar. Asked about the victims' nationality, he said they were Serbs and Croats including several reserve soldiers of former Yugoslavia's federal army, the JNA. (hina) ha sb