B'NAI B'RITH HEAD SATISFIED WITH LEGAL METHODS USED IN SAKIC CASE

( Editorial: --> 0609 ) ZAGREB, July 29 (Hina) - Visiting B'nai B'rith international president Tommy Baer says legal procedures in the Dinko Sakic case are acceptable to the international community. Based on what it had seen and heard, the Jewish organisation was satisfied with the way legal procedures were being handled, Baer told a press conference on Wednesday at the end of his visit to Croatia. Baer emphasised that B'nai B'rith did not in any way want to meddle in Croatia's judicial system. Sakic was the commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp during World War II and he was extradited to Croatia from Argentina in mid- June. Baer said his organisation had worked on the Sakic case for more than three and a half years, adding that before this it was not known whether Sakic was alive or that he lived in Argentina. The B'nai B'rith head said Croatian President Franjo Tudjman had invited him to participate in the trial as an official observer and for the organisation to assist in gathering evidence for the case. I am in Croatia to prepare myself and my organisation for our role, a role given to us by the Croatian President, as an observer and to help in any way your government wants, Baer said. To make it quite clear: I am not here to in any way interfere in the court procedure. We respect the judicial system and, of course, Croatia's sovereignty in the Sakic case, Baer added. He said the Croatian courts and the legal procedure had to decide Sakic's fate. After all discussions held during his visit to Croatia, Baer said he was satisfied with the way the investigation process was developing. We are pleased the Croatian Government considers this process has to be carried out in a proper way, because the credibility and integrity of the judicial system of an independent Croatia is under a magnifying glass and the world will watch, Baer said. I would like to be very clear that the reason why B'nai B'rith is involved in this case has no link with Sakic's nationality. We would be equally interested if Dinko Sakic was of any other nationality, Baer said. He recalled that the Jewish organisation had been included in the cases of other people, even American citizens, who had been accused of committing war crimes during World War II. B'nai B'rith is an organisation for human rights and because of this it is concerned with crimes against humanity which were committed by people, regardless of their nationality, Baer emphasised. Emphasising that he understood that the Ustasha regime did not represent all Croats and that many thousands of Croats had participated in the fight against that WWII regime, Baer assessed that the Sakic case presented issues of greater importance than the trial itself, and this was to honestly face the Ustasha regime and the crimes that regime committed. It was important for every country, including Croatia, to confront its past and the Sakic trial was one way to do that, Baer said. Through this Croatia can become a positive example for the rest of central and eastern Europe, where there were too often cases of cooperation with Nazi Germany, he said. Asked to comment on reasons why he did not meet Tudjman, Baer said he and his organisation held very constructive relations with the Croatian President. I am here on his invitation. We did not meet because he is on his annual holidays, but he told me he would be very pleased to meet us on another occasion, Baer explained. (Hina) mbr /as 292030 MET jul 98