CRO JUSTICE MINISTER TALKS TO RETURNEE PROTESTERS IN E. CROATIA

VINKOVCI/BERAK, May 15 (Hina) - Croatian Justice Minister Zvonimir Separovic on Saturday visited Berak, an eastern Croatian village in which Croatian returnees have been protesting since May 7, after a mass grave with the remains of victims of the Serbian aggression was discovered in the village. The returnees demand the truth about 29 of their dearest gone missing during the Serbian occupation of Croatia earlier this decade, and the arrest of all who committed crimes against Berak Croats during the occupation of the village. Prior to visiting the village, Minister Separovic met in Vinkovci the head of a government commission for detained and missing persons, Lt. Col. Ivan Grujic, and representatives of Vukovar- Srijem County, Vinkovci, and local police and judicial bodies. Separovic told reporters afterwards the aim of his visit was to get acquainted with the Berak situation. Asked how he viewed the Croatian authorities' endeavours to apprehend persons who committed crimes during the Serbian aggression on Croatia, the minister said the process had to date been under strong international community pressure to come to abolition and amnesty the culprits. "That process was so strong that even persons who may really be guilty of war crimes fell out of the net of possible accountability. Maybe Berak is proof that the international and forcefully conditioned amnesty and abolition have had too wide a hand in this field," Separovic said. Addressing the protesters in Berak, he said, "Croatia's judiciary has the obligation to assist you and is doing so. Continue the protest in peace, and once you realise that we may be on the way to solve what you are seeking, you yourselves will judge whether you will continue with the protest or, following what the authorities are doing, peacefully wait until the truth has been found out." He stressed those guilty of the war crimes committed during the Serbian aggression must answer. "Croatia has never accused the Serb people of being genocidal. Not all Serbs are war criminals," the justice minister said, pointing out "all citizens of Serb nationality who have accepted the Croatian state enjoy its full protection, as do other citizens in the country." Separovic said the Croatian people had forgiven those Serbs who had not bloodied their hands for the aggression, adding Croatia expected the Serbs to contribute to the building of the Croatian state now the war was over. They will do so best by assisting in tracing missing persons, he pointed out. To overcome the tense situation in Berak, Separovic invited to the village representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and of the Serb national community in eastern Croatia. The latter did not respond to the invitation. The head of the OSCE coordination centre in Vukovar, Pierre Petters, called on the protesters to keep their dignity and show trust in Croatia's attempt to understand the Berak returnees' demands. Lt. Col. Grujic acquainted the protesters with the government commission's efforts to trace 1,750 missing persons. Special exhumation teams will come to Berak next week to search a well believed to contain the remains of persons killed during the occupation of Berak, he said. (hina) ha