HIDDEN SERB PRISONERS FOUND IN ZENICA PRISON

SARAJEVO, Aug 5 (Hina) - During a Sunday visit to a prison in Zenica, central BH, members of the International Police Task Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina discovered two prisoners who had been jailed since 1995, without any verdict or charges. According to UN spokesman Aleksandar Ivanko, the two are Bosnian Serbs from Teslic, Nenad and Dusan Skrbic, whose names are on the International Red Cross list of missing persons. They were imprisoned as prisoners of war on 10 September 1995, Ivanko said on Tuesday. International policemen visited the prison in Zenica unannounced, Ivanko said, in order to check information provided by the two men's families. Following a brief discussion with representatives of the prison's administration, members of the IPTF were allowed to check the premises. The two prisoners were found in a locked room in a secondary building which held no other prisoners, Ivanko explained, pointing out the prison's authorities had no documents about the two men. The International Red Cross was notified about the discovery, while the administration of the Zenica prison on Monday assented to releasing the two prisoners, who were then transferred by Stabilization Force helicopters to Banja Luka. The head of the UN mission in BH, Kai Eide, Ivanko said, cautioned the federal authorities that this case represented a drastic violation of the international humanitarian right, as well as of the Dayton Accord. (hina) ha jn 051610 MET aug 97