U.N. REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN CROATIA

GENEVA, Aug 29 (Hina) - Georg Maunter-Markof, a senior official of the UN Centre for Human Rights, submitted a report in Geneva on Friday on the human rights situation in crisis spots round the world. A part of the report dealing with the human rights situation in Croatia cited lawsuits filed with the Hague-based international war crimes tribunal by Dobroslav Paraga and Ivan Zvonimir Cicak against top Croatian government officials. It said that the situation in the Knin area has been improving since recently, which was ascribed to the higher efficiency of authorities in punishing violators of human rights. The report said that a larger number of Serbs had returned from Eastern Slavonia to other areas of Croatia, and cited cases of the harassment of returnees by Croats and intolerant religious services in Drnis and Okucani. The report positively assessed the arrest of Pero Skopljak and the readiness of a group of other Bosnian Croats to turn themselves in to the Hague tribunal if they were ensured a speedy trial. (hina) vm 300915 MET aug 97