NALETILIC'S ATTORNEY SAYS HE WILL FILE CONSTITUTIONAL COMPLAINT

ZAGREB, March 20 (Hina) - Kresimir Krsnik, an attorney representing Mladen Naletilic Tuta, on Monday told Hina in a phone conversation that should his client be handed over to The Hague Tribunal, he would file a constitutional complaint with a request that the extradition procedure be postponed. Should the Minister of Justice, Administration, and Local Self- Government, Stjepan Ivanisevic, annul the decision on the postponement of Naletilic's extradition, made on October 18, 1999 due to Naletilic's poor health, I will submit a constitutional complaint with a request that the hand-over be postponed until a decision on the complaint is made, Krsnik said. Commenting on the findings of a Hague doctors' team, Krsnik said their conclusion did not refute the findings of a Croatian doctors' team, that is, their opinion that extradition could cause stress and a sudden death. Krsnik reminded of his complaint to the European Court for Human Rights requesting that the extradition of his client be delayed. "The complaint is being processed and should it be positively solved, it will stop the hand-over," he added. Naletilic was indicted by The Hague war crimes tribunal in late 1998 for crimes against humanity, grave violations of the Geneva Convention and the law and customs of war committed during his command of a so-called convicts' battalion in areas controlled by the Croatian Defence Council in 1993. The Supreme Court decision on Naletilic's extradition was postponed because of his poor condition, however, in early March the Tribunal estimated, on the basis of the findings of two Dutch doctors who examined him, that Naletilic is fit to travel to The Hague. (hina) mm rml