IPTF SEEKS REPLACEMENT OF BOSNIAN SERB DEPUTY INTERIOR MINISTER

( Editorial: --> 0550 ) SARAJEVO, Sept 15 (Hina) - The command of the International Police Task Force (IPTF) in Bosnia on Tuesday requested the replacement of the Deputy Interior Minister of the Bosnian Serb entity. The IPTF holds Ljubisa Savic responsible for serious battery of persons suspected for the recent murder of a policeman in Pale, in the Bosnian Serb entity. According to the spokeswoman for the UN mission to Bosnia, Kelly Moore, IPTF commissioner Richard Monk requested Bosnian Serb Interior Minister Milovan Stankovic to immediately replace Savic and open an investigation into serious law breaking. The IPTF command also decided that in the future Savic was not to perform any duty within the Interior Ministry. Savic personally investigated the murder of Srdjan Knezevic, deputy commander of Bosnian police stationed in Pale. The as yet unresolved murder is being linked with the political leadership of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) and Momcilo Krajisnik. Krajisnik threatened Knezevic after he arrested a high-ranking SDS official suspected of being responsible for financial misuse. A special police team from Banja Luka headed by Savic arrested 14 former members of the Interior Ministry. Seven are directly suspected of murdering Knezevic. An IPTF investigation established that during imprisonment these seven persons were beat, hit with electric batons and had their teeth pulled out with pliers. There is evidence that Savic himself took part in the beatings, Moore told reporters in Sarajevo. (hina) ha 151506 MET sep 98