BAER BELIEVES SENTENCE REQUESTED FOR SAKIC APPROPRIATE

NEW YORK, Sept 22 (Hina) - The honorary chairman of the Jewish association B'nai B'rith, Tommy Baer, said in New York on Wednesday that everything pointed to the fact that the trial of Dinko Sakic, former commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp, before the Zagreb County Court, would end with a just verdict. Baer was part of a B'nai B'rith delegation, which, led by its current president Richard Heideman, today met Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic within the 54th session of the U.N. General Assembly. The B'nai B'rith delegation also wanted to now about the possibility of opening Croatian and Vatican archives from World War II. According to Baer, it was necessary to shed light on the conduct of the Catholic Church in that period, especially since a large number of priests had had a very positive role. Since he had already attended the Sakic trial at the invitation of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, Baer announced that he would soon visit Zagreb again to attend the pronunciation of the verdict. When asked to comment on the sentence of 20 years in prison, which the prosecutor requested for Sakic, Baer said although it was a matter of the Croatian judiciary, he believed the sentence was appropriate. He believed Sakic should remain in custody during a possible appeal procedure. Baer also expressed a wish to meet again with President Tudjman during his upcoming visit to Croatia. (hina) jn rml ,