ICTY NO LONGER COVERS COSTS OF DEFENCE OF SEVEN ACCUSED CROATS

THE HAGUE, Aug 11 (Hina) - The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will no longer cover costs for the defence of seven Bosnian Croat defendants, who receive financial support from a Croatian organisation, the Hague-based Tribunal said in a statement on Wednesday. According to the statement, the organisation named "Hrvatski Uznik u Hagu (Croatian Prisoners in The Hague)", raised funds for the detainees, "particularly through an auction of art works held in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, totalling an estimated DM 4,3000,000" at the beginning and in the mid-1999. "During the auction of 18 June 1999, a letter signed by the accused was read out in which they expressed their gratitude for the support lent to them," the ICTY statement added. The indictment "Kupreskic and Others", issued in November 1995, charges the seven Bosnian Croat with crime against humanity, and breaches of customs and laws of war while being involved into a crime committed in the village of Ahmici on 16 April 1993. Six of those on the indictment - Mario Cerkez, Drago Josipovic, Mirjan Kupreskic, Zoran Kupreskic, Dragan Papic and Vladimir Santic -surrendered to the Hague Tribunal in October 1997, while Vlatko Kupreskic was arrested by Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in December 1997. "Pursuant to Article 19 of the Directive on the Assignment of Defence Counsel, the privilege of the assignment of Defence Counsel ends when information shows that the accused persons have sufficient means to retain Counsel privately," the ICTY explained its decision not to finance costs of the defence of the seven accused any more. (hina) ms