WOMAN SENTENCED TO ONE-YEAR PROBATION FOR DESECRATING MONUMENT

ZAGREB, Aug 17 (Hina) - The Slunj Municipal Court on Wednesday sentenced Biserka Legradic to a one-year probation order for desecrating a monument to Serbs killed by the Ustashi during World War Two. On May 6 this year, during a rally protesting a commemoration for WW2 victims in Veljun near Slunj, Legradic lowered her trousers and underwear and turned her rear to the monument, thus committing a crime against human rights and freedoms. The media ran pictures documenting the event, claiming Legradic had also urinated on the monument. This count, however, was dropped during yesterday's two-hour hearing. The photographers who were interrogated as witnesses were unable to confirm that the defendant had urinated on the monument, Croatia's daily press reported on Thursday. In passing the sentence, the Slunj Municipal court took into consideration the fact that the defendant had taken part in last decade's Homeland War and remained a 70-percent invalid after being wounded. Legradic, who defended herself in court without counsel, pleaded not guilty. She asserted her act had not been directed against WW2 victims, but in protest over the altered inscription on the monument. The former Latin-script inscription said the monument had been erected in memory of "victims of fascist terror". During restoration, the inscription was written in Cyrillic and said it was in memory of "victims of Ustashi terror", said Legradic. She explained Croatian Serb rebels called Croats the Ustashi, asserting the Serbs had been the ones who desecrated the monument by changing the inscription. (hina) ha jn