WAR ASSOCIATIONS DISSATISFIED WITH HAGUE INVESTIGATORS IN GOSPIC

GOSPIC, April 11 (Hina) - Associations yielded from the Homeland War from the town of Gospic and Lika-Senj County expressed shock at the arrival of investigators of the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Gospic area. Following announcements in the media about the issuing of indictments against Croatian army generals for alleged crimes committed during the Homeland war, associations at Tuesday's news conference said they would forward an initiative to the Croatian National Parliament on a special act defining the Homeland war, that is, that it should be once again confirmed that the aggression had been carried out in 1991 on Croatia's legitimately elected authorities. They also expressed support for investigations into possible crimes. They can be carried out by legal Croatian state institutions. The arrival of Hague investigators in Gospic, about which county authorities had not been informed, has caused additional anxiety among town residents. Homeland War associations called on ICTY investigators to speak with the suffering residents of Gospic and Lika, and investigate crimes the Serb occupier had committed over the Croatian residents in Siroka Kula, Canak, Lovinac, Podlapaca, Vrhovina and other locations. Gospic homeland war soldiers are today, as they had been during the war, united, and will not allow proceedings against any soldier or officer, they said. They announced they would initiate the signing of a petition. (hina) lml mm