26 DETAINEES WRITE OPEN LETTER TO ICTY PRESIDENT

( Editorial: --> 3299 ) ZAGREB, 13 Aug (Hina) - Reports published recently in the media picturing us among other things as depressed and preparing for riots do not have any substance, 26 detainees from the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Detention Unit said in an open letter, received by Hina on Wednesday. At the detainees' initiative, their representatives Tihomir Blaskic, Zejnil Delalic, Dario Kordic and Simo Zaric met with the Tribunal's Spokesman on Monday 10 and Wednesday 12 August 1998, said an ICTY message accompanying the letter. The detainees expressed a wish to be able to publicly set the record straight about their conditions of detention by issuing an open letter to the ICTY President signed by all the detainees, the message said. The Registrar of the Tribunal agreed to this request and the ICTY President approved the release of their letter. In the open letter the 26 detainees stress that claims by some reporters on poor conditions of their detention are the result of malicious desinformation and harm them. "The deaths of Mr. Dokmanovic and Mr. Kovacevic have had a heavy impact on all of us. Every one of us has reacted to these tragic events in his own way. But they have also brought about something positive: we have become closer to each other," the detainees said. They further said they had discussed collectively their conditions of detention. "Notwithstanding the efforts made by the current management of the Detention Unit and in spite of the decent and fair treatment given to all of us by the management, there are in our view still important shortcomings," the detainees said. These remarks were discussed with the Commanding Officer of the Detention Unit on 3 August 1998 and set forth in a letter to the ICTY President and Registrar. The key suggestions concern a daily adequate medical care, more fresh air and exercise, more and better food, better accommodation of the visits by their immediate family and lawyers, and possibility to receive TV and radio programs from their own countries. "We have invited the President and the Registrar to visit us and to meet us in person in order to discuss these issues. "We have also prepared a separate document which has been forwarded by the Registry of the Tribunal to the President of the Tribunal, the Security Council, the General Assembly, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch as well as the Dutch authorities......In this document we identified five 'crucial issues': the need for fair and speedy trials, the inequality of resources available to the prosecution over the defence, the biased publicity given to our cases by concentrating on the prosecution, the improvement of our conditions of detention and the lack of care in examining indictments before issuing arrest warrants," said the detainees in the letter. The letter was signed by Zejnil Delalic, Tihomir Blaskic, Dario Kordic, Simo Zaric, Zoran Kupreskic, Dusko Tadic, Vlatko Kupreskic, Mario Cerkez, Vladimir Santic, Mirjan Kupreskic, Hazim Delic, Zoran Zigic, Drago Josipovic, Zdravko Mucic, Zlatko Aleksovski, Miroslav Tadic, Esad Landzo, Anto Furundzija, Dragan Papic, Dragoljub Kunarac, Milorad Krnojelac, Miroslav Kvocka, Mladjo Radic, Milojica Kos, Goran Jelisic and Drazen Erdemovic. (hina) rml 131116 MET aug 98