CROATIAN SERB ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF COMMITTING WAR CRIMES

SISAK, July 31 (Hina) - The investigating judge of the Sisak County Court, Zeljko Mlinaric, has ordered detention for Dragan Vranesevic, aged 38, from Dvor na Uni, residing in Ilok (eastern Slavonia), due to suspicion that during the Serb occupation of the area of Dvor, as the commander of the local police he committed war crimes against the civilian population in the Croatian Una River valley in 1991. Vranesevic was arrested on July 29 in Ilok, where he worked as a member of the local police station within the Croatian Interior Ministry. He was arrested on the basis of a draft indictment by the Sisak County State Attorney's office. His arrest was ordered by the Sisak County Court and he is currently in detention the Sisak County Court investigating prison. The head of the county police administration, Vladimir Faber, today confirmed Vranesevic's arrest in Struga Banska. It is in Struga Banska that nine Croatian police members and four civilians were killed during an attack of Serbian forces on July 26, 1991, which, according to the indictment, Vranesevic is believed to have commanded. "We have evidence that on July 26, 1991 Vranesevic, as the commander of the Dvor police station, commanded Operation 'Sting' on Struga Banska, which resulted in the killing of nine Croatian police officers and a number of civilians, in the ethnic cleansing of the Croatian Una River valley and the plunder and burning of Croat homes and commercial facilities", Faber said. (hina) rml