BOSNIAN CROAT DEFENDANTS ASK ICTY PRESIDENT TO REVIEW DECISION

ZAGREB, Aug 23 (Hina) - All seven Bosnian Croat defendants whom The Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) denied defence financing earlier this month forwarded a request to the tribunal's president to reconsider the decision, the tribunal said in a statement on Monday.#L# The seven defendants, Vladimir Santic, Mario Cerkez, Zoran Kupreskic, Mirjan Kupreskic, Drago Josipovic, Vlatko Kupreskic, and Dragan Papic, between August 13 and 20 wrote to ICTY President Gabrielle Kirk McDonald requesting that she reconsider the tribunal secretariat's August 6 decision which, based on press reports on collected financial asistance, stopped the paying of the defence. The defendants point out the amount collected via various auctions and which they received is far lower than the DM4.3 million mentioned by the tribunal's secretariat in its decision. The money was not collected for the necessities of the defence, they say, but to help their families cover visiting costs, for defendants' pocket money, to cover defence costs not acknowledged by the tribunal, and to assist defendants' families in extraordinary situations. The decision is up to McDonald, the ICTY statement says, but doesn not specify when it might be reached. The seven defendants' trials will resume in the second half of September. (hina) ha