ARRESTED BELI MANASTIR SERBS INTERVIEWED IN OSIJEK COUNTY COURT

ARRESTED BELI MANASTIR SERBS INTERVIEWED IN OSIJEK COUNTY COURT OSIJEK, Oct 9 (Hina) - The investigating judge of the county court in the eastern town of Osijek on Monday interviewed seven of 14 arrested Serbs from Beli Manastir who are charged with war crimes against civilians committed in the region of Baranja.#L# The other suspects will be interviewed on Tuesday morning, Judge Mladen Filipovic said. Twelve Serbs were arrested last Friday, and another two on Saturday. Judge Filipovic said some defence attorneys had already appealed the 30-day detention for the suspects, and that 9 a.m. on Tuesday was the deadline for appealing. Domagoj Resetar, defence attorney for five suspects, said those interviewed today had pleaded not guilty and that they expected to be allowed out on pretrial release. All 14 were arrested under a 19 January 1995 decision to put them under detention. Their names are on a list of 121 suspects for war crimes committed in the eastern-most region of Baranja. Unlike the others from the list, who are unavailable to Croatian judicial bodies, they stayed to live in Beli Manastir, Baranja, were they were arrested, during last decade's Serb aggression and after the region was reintegrated with the rest of Croatia. "Part of the suspects knew they were under investigation and came to us for help two years ago," said Resetar, adding it remained to be examined why the Croatian judiciary had done nothing until now. "If they were guilty, they would have fled Croatia like the rest of the war crimes suspects from the list," the attorney said. (hina) ha jn