DOKMANOVIC COMMITS SUICIDE IN HIS ICTY CELL

( Editorial: --> 4396 ) THE HAGUE, June 29 (Hina) - Slavko Dokmanovic committed suicide in a cell of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in Scheveningen last night, ICTY spokesman Christian Chartier reported on Monday. Dokmanovic, a former president of the city assembly in Vukovar, eastern Croatia, hanged himself on the hinge of the door to his cell. He was found by a guard shortly after midnight. The ICTY spokesman said a doctor was called immediately but could not do anything to save the suicide's life. Dokmanovic's body was transferred to the morgue of a nearby hospital, Chartier said, adding the suicide's relatives and defence had been notified about the event. The ICTY and the Dutch authorities are investigating the case, he emphasised. According to the ICTY spokesman, Dokmanovic complained about not feeling well around six pm on Sunday. A doctor suggested that he be checked on every half hour. After a guard checked on him at 11.30 pm, Dokmanovic managed a short-circuit in his cell with an electric razor so that the guard pacing the corridor might not see him, said Chartier. During the next round shortly after midnight, the guard noticed that there was no light in the cell. Upon entering he found Dokmanovic hanging behind the door, the spokesman added. Chartier could not say what Dokmanovic had used to hang himself with, and added the investigation would ascertain whether he had left any message. Dokmanovic often complained of not feeling well, and was during his detention visited by a psychiatrist from Belgrade. His defence said Dokmanovic was suffering from depression, the ICTY spokesman said. Chartier did not see it possible that Dokmanovic's death could have been caused in any other way than suicide. Dokmanovic was detained by the ICTY since June 27, 1997. He was awaiting a verdict after his trial ended last Thursday. Dokmanovic was accused of taking part in arranging the killing of more than 200 people whom the then Yugoslav People's Army had imprisoned in a Vukovar hospital on November 20, 1991. The prosecution demanded that Dokmanovic be sentenced to lifetime imprisonment. (hina) ha 291131 MET jun 98