FEDERAL POLICE ISSUE WARRANT FOR ARREST OF FIVE MOSTAR CROATS

MOSTAR, Aug 10 (Hina) - The Bosnian Federation Interior Ministry has issued the warrants for the arrest of five Mostar Croats against which an indictment had been raised by Herzegovina-Neretva Canton court in March, with the consent of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. The warrant was issued after several months of searching for the five suspects, Judicial Council president Mladen Jurisic said. "The five suspects are believed to be fleeing, but there is no information about whether they have left the Bosnian Federation, so an international warrant cannot be issued," Jurisic said. He explained two of the suspects had, through a lawyer, requested that their trials be held separately, claiming that during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina they had been in no contact with the other three suspects. "If their wish is granted, the two are prepared to give themselves up," Jurisic said. The canton prosecutor's office, however, Jurisic said, has opposed separate trials, because the indictment stipulates they had committed the crimes jointly. Jurisic added they can only wait for the five to be apprehended so trial proceedings could begin. (hina) lml