REMAINS OF CROATIAN PILOT IDENTIFIED

ZAGREB, Sept 9 (Hina) - The remains of a Croatian army pilot, brigadier Rudolf Perisin, had been identified for certain, Croatian Defence Ministry representatives told a news conference in Zagreb on Tuesday. The pilot went missing in May 1995. Bosnian Serbs handed over Perisin's remains to the Croatian side on 4 August 1997. With the identification of the mortal remains at the Forensics Bureau of the Faculty of Medicine in Zagreb, it was undoubtedly determined that it was in fact Perisin, but the exact cause of his death could not be established, forensics expert Davor Strinovic said. "I can only say approximately that the mortal remains date back more than two years. It is probable that death occurred in early May 1995," Strinovic said. Rudolf Perisin deserted from the enemy JNA (Yugoslav People's Army) by aircraft to Klagenfurt (Austria) on 25 October 1991. He later became a high-ranking official at the Croatian air force. During the Croatian liberation operation "Flash", on 2 May 1995, his plane was hit by enemy anti-aircraft missiles over Bosanska Gradiska (north Bosnia) while he was returning to base after a successfully completed mission. "Perisin was ejected from the plane in very complex conditions. We presume that it was then that he was killed," Major General Josip Culetic said. President of the Croatian government Commission for Missing and Imprisoned Persons, Col. Ivan Grujic, spoke about the search for Perisin which had lasted several years. After a lot of contradictory information, even attempts of deceit by Bosnian Serbs who had claimed that Perisin was being held by them, the Bosnian Serbs admitted that Perisin had been killed, and handed over his remains to Croatia. (hina) lm jn 091627 MET sep 97