HOMELAND WAR VETERANS' MINISTRY ASKS FOR BLEWITT'S RESIGNATION

ZAGREB, Dec 2 (Hina) - The Ministry of Croatian Homeland War Veterans on Friday fully supported a statement issued by Croatia's Justice Minister Zvonimir Separovic who requested the resignation of the ICTY's Deputy Chief Prosecutor, Graham Blewitt. Blewitt on Wednesday said the death (of Croatia's President) would likelky result in some change. The veterans' ministry maintained that "expressed disparagement of and insults to the President of the Republic and the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Franjo Tudjman, are the insults to all families of killed, died, imprisoned and missing Croatian defenders, Croatian disabled ex-service men as well as to Croatian veterans." Veterans joined Minister Separovic in his request that the Hague- based International War Crimes Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) release Croats who gave themselves up voluntarily to the Tribunal. Separovic on Thursday forwarded a letter of protest to the Hague Tribunal describing Blewitt's statements at a recent news conference as "morbid, necrophilic, aggressive." Blewitt also voiced hope that the cooperation between the Tribunal and Zagreb would be re-established after Tudjman's death. According to Separovic, such statements indicate the unscrupulousness of a man who has been persecuting Croats and Croatia for years. (hina) ms