ICTY: TRIBUNAL PRESIDENT TO CONTINUE TALKS WITH DETAINEES

( Editorial: --> 4654 ) ZAGREB/THE HAGUE, Aug 19 (Hina) - Talks between detainees and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) president Gabrielle Kirk McDonald will continue even after last week's meeting held at the prisoners' request, ICTY spokesman Christian Chartier said on Wednesday. The first meeting Was held on Friday and it lasted about two and a half hours, but talks were not completed and will continue soon, Chartier told Hina in a telephone interview. Present at the meeting were all 26 detainees who signed an open letter, he said. But he was unable to specify when the talks would be held again. In their open letter sent to the Tribunal president sent last week, the 26 detainees demanded adequate daily medical care, longer stays in the open, improvements to food provision and visitor accommodation for their families and lawyers, and the possibility of receiving radio and television programmes from their countries. Apart from these comments, the detainees also sent a letter to McDonald, the United Nations' Security Council and General Assembly and several other organisations, in which they outlined general observations on the work of the Tribunal. They warned on the need for a fair and speedy trial, the inequality of resources available to the prosecution over the defence, the biased publicity given on trials which concentrated on the prosecution's case, the need for an improvement in detention conditions and the lack of care in examining indictments before the issuing of arrest warrants. (Hina) mbr 192227 MET aug 98