JUSTICE MINISTER ON ALLEGED BELGRADE TRIAL AGAINST SAKIC

ZAGREB, Nov 24 (Hina) - The Yugoslav Justice Ministry does not have data on a genocide trial against Dinko Sakic being held in Yugoslavia, Croatian Justice Minister Milan Ramljak said on Tuesday. Ramljak was talking to reporters with regard to a report in Belgrade media last week stating that the Belgrade County investigating judge had questioned ten witnesses against Sakic, the former commander of a World War Two concentration camp in Croatia, currently under pre-trial proceedings in Zagreb. Ramljak said the Croatian Embassy in Yugoslavia had been requested to officially check on the information about a possible trial against Sakic in Yugoslavia. According to the Embassy, a Yugoslav Justice Ministry representative said he did not have data indicating a Sakic trial was being conducted in Yugoslavia. Ramljak said there was no other possibility of checking on that information. Yugoslavia had requested Sakic's extradition from Argentina at the same time as Croatia, in June, but the Argentinean President rejected the Yugoslav request and granted Croatia's. According to Ramljak, the Argentinean decision respected international conventions which, as a basic rule in preventing and punishing crimes, i.e. in trials for committed crimes, determine the jurisdiction of courts in the country on whose territory the crimes were committed. (hina) ha mm