ZAGREB COUNTY COURT INITIATES INVESTIGATION AGAINST SAKIC

( Editorial: --> 8461 ) ZAGREB, April 21 (Hina) - A Zagreb County Court investigative judge on Tuesday initiated an investigation against Dinko Sakic on suspicion of war crimes. The former Jasenovac camp official, a Croatian citizen living in Argentina, is under suspicion for committing criminal offences against humanity and international law - war crimes against civilian population. The decision has also paved the way for the issuing of a request by the Croatian Justice Minister for Sakic's extradition. The investigative demand says that during World War II the accused, Dinko Sakic, served as the commander of the "Stara Gradiska Collection Camp" and general department head and deputy commander of the "Jasenovac Collection Camp". It says in carrying out the racist laws and legal orders against political opponents of the war-time Independent State of Croatia (1941-45), the camps interned, mistreated, tortured and killed tens of thousands of people. The ruling also provides for Sakic's pre-trial detention because there are primary suspicions he committed the most severe and brutal form of a criminal act which is punishable by a maximum prison penalty, which requires obligatory detention. (Hina) rm mb /mr 212003 MET apr 98