SERB PRISONERS FROM SPLIT COUNTY PRISON END HUNGER STRIKE

( Editorial: --> 0552 ) ZAGREB, Feb 9 (Hina) - Croatian Justice Minister Miroslav Separovic presented a bill on serving prison sentences, at a press conference in Zagreb on Monday. Separovic was also asked about the hunger strike of Serb prisoners in the Split county prison. According to the bill on serving prison sentences, penitentiaries, prisons and training centres for prison personnel would be set up as organisational units of the Justice Ministry. The bill is aimed at securing an even higher degree of control over the work of penitentiaries and prisons, Separovic said. Also new is the introduction of court control over the serving of prison sentences by judges in charge of that task, according to models applied in other democratic countries. A judge in charge of prisoners serving sentences would make decisions on a whole set of prisoners' rights, such as early release, parole etc. The serving of sentences has so far been controlled by the Administration for Implementing Sanctions of the Justice Ministry and the county court president. A new element in the bill is also the possibility for prisoners to communicate through letters with the representatives of legislative, judicial and executive authorities, without screening by the prison administration or the Justice Ministry. The situation in penitentiaries and prisons in Croatia is good and in line with the law, said Separovic. A large number of representatives of international government and non-government organisations have visited Croatian prisons and they did not have any serious objections, he added. Since 1995, there has been a trend aimed at reducing the number of persons taken into custody. Answering a question on the hunger strike of 16 prisoners of Serb nationality in the Split County Prison, which started on 1 February and ended on Saturday, 7 February, Separovic said that the prisoners went on strike because they believed that their trial had been politically rigged and were dissatisfied with their attorneys. The prisoners demanded to be tried in The Hague. Separovic said he had personally interceded so that their complaints could be resolved as soon as possible by the Supreme Court. Most of the 16 prisoners, whose sentences range from five to 15 years in prison and are not final, were sentenced because of the mining of the dam of Peruca water power plant in the Dalmatian hinterland in January 1993. They were captured during the Croatian military operation 'Storm' near Knin in August 1995. The crimes the defendants were sentenced for are defined as war crimes against civilians and war crimes against prisoners of war during the Serbian aggression on Croatia. (hina) jn rm 091725 MET feb 98