SERB PEOPLE'S PARTY PRESIDENT ISSUES OPEN LETTER

( Editorial: --> 9495 ) ZAGREB, Mar 14 (Hina) - Serb People's Party president Milan Djukic Friday issued an open letter addressed to the Croatian President in which he states that Serbs in Croatia are discriminated on a national basis. As a drastic example, Djukic mentioned the recent suicide of Milan Brakus, a Serb, in a prison in Gospic, a town 150km south of Zagreb. Djukic said Brakus had returned as a citizen of Croatia to his house in May 1997. He had been checked when collecting his documents in Vukovar. In his letter to President Franjo Tudjman, Djukic says: "Upon arriving to the village, (Brakus) duly reports to police in Vrhovine, which arrest him, imprison him in Gospic under the suspicion that he committed a crime, and reach an invalid verdict (under which) he is to serve a ten-year sentence in prison. Unfortunately, he ends his life by hanging himself in the Gospic prison on 11 March 1998." Djukic's claims were commented on Friday by Croatian Justice Minister Miroslav Separovic. Milan Brakus was on 14 October 1997 sentenced by the Gospic County Court to a ten-year imprisonment for a criminal act against humanity and international law, Separovic told Hina. Brakus lodged an appeal on the ruling, but the Supreme Court on 18 February 1998 turned the appeal down and confirmed the ruling reached by the County Court in Gospic, Separovic said, adding Brakus was delivered the ruling on 6 March 1998 but refused to accept it. The ruling was valid, Separovic stressed. The justice minister confirmed that Brakus committed suicide by hanging. He said that the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe mission in Zagreb had been notified about the matter and had no remarks about the reports they had been submitted. It is clear from accessible papers that Brakus did not complain about police procedure, did not show signs indicating depressive behaviour and that there were no hints that he might commit suicide, Separovic told Hina. Concerning speculations on a farewell letter, Separovic said there was only the statement of a prison inmate to that effect. On behalf of the Ministry of Justice, Separovic regretted the tragic incident and expressed condolences to the Brakus family. (hina) ha jn 141702 MET mar 98