INT REPS ACCUSE MOSTAR POLICE IN CASE OF ATTACK ON 2 CRO REPORTERS

MOSTAR, June 3 (Hina) - International representatives in Mostar on Thursday assessed as slow an investigation in the case of two Croatian reporters from Rijeka who were beaten in the southern Bosnian town a month ago. International Police Task Force spokesman in Mostar, Stefo Lehmann, accused Mostar police of being unwilling to implement a thorough investigation and of doing everything to postpone it. Lehmann told reporters it was absurd a crime could be committed against reporters and the police in the town where it had happened was not starting an investigation, regardless of whether a report had been made in Mostar or not. Lehmann said the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton Interior Ministry had notified the IPTF in Mostar that a report made by Rijeka police on the beating of the two reporters had been sent to the Croatian Embassy in Sarajevo. The IPTF spokesman however said the embassy did not know about any such report. Speaking about the attack on Robert Franko and Ronald Brmalj, the spokesman for the Mostar regional office of the international high representative for Bosnia, Chris Riley, said the attack should not go unpunished. (hina) ha