MASLE: MY ARREST IN MONTENEGRO WAS ACTUALLY ABDUCTION

DUBROVNIK, June 13 (Hina) - Croatian reporter Antun Masle who returned to Dubrovnik last night, held a news conference in this Adriatic town on Sunday to express gratitude to all colleagues, fellow citizens, and particularly to Croatia's authorities for the support they gave him while he had been detained by the Yugoslav Army in Montenegro. Masle, a journalist of the Zagreb-based weekly "Globus", had been kept in the military prison in Montenegro since April 20, as the Yugoslav Army accused him of espionage. In the night of June 6 he managed to escape after he was taken to the clinic in the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica for some check-ups. Speaking about how he had been arrested, Masle said it had actually been the abduction on the road since he had all necessary documents and did not film anything while he was passing from Albania into Montenegro. They (Yugoslav troops) could see it for themselves when they took the film on which there was nothing in connection with military facilities, Masle added. "I am not sure what Yugoslav military authorities wanted to achieve with my apprehension, but I presume that they wanted to settle accounts with Montenegrin civilian authorities through me," the Croatian reporter added. He refused to give details about his escape from Montenegro. He said that after he had run out of prison he headed toward the tripartite border among Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, and via Herzegovina entered Croatia. "I had two shelters where, being much scared, I was waiting what would happen, Masle told reporters. He said his defence attorneys and a representative of Croatia's Foreign Ministry in Kotor, Damir Sabljak, had regularly visited him in the Podgorica prison adding that the Montenegrin authorities helped him morally. (hina) ms