SARAJEVO PRESS REVEALS WAR CRIMES BY MOSLEM FORCES IN BOSNIAN CAPITAL

CAPITAL ( Editorial: --> 4141 ) SARAJEVO, Nov 27 (Hina)- The Sarajevo-based weekly "Dani" published two weeks ago court files on the brutal killings of a yet undertermined but certainly a great number of civilians, primarily of Serb origin, by the 10th alpine brigade of the Moslem-led Bosnian Army. The revealed records astounded again Sarajevans, for whom these events were an open secret in the first years of the Serb siege, and others who have not known of this so far. The latest issue of "Dani" qouted a former wartime member of the Bosnian Presidency, Mirko Pejanovic, as saying that "during the siege of Sarajevo between two and three thousand Serbs were killed in the city". The reasons were to take their property, flats or revenge. The Presidency knew of that, but an operation that broke this chain of violence, was not launched before October 1993. Everything (these killings) lasted more than a year, he said. "Killings were done in this way: you take an unprepared civilian to a separation line and tell him to dig. You leave him in no man's land and fire a shot in the opposite direction. Those from the other side of the separation line return fire and kill the civilian. This would be then reported as a civilian "killed at the defence line" rather than a murder and a crime," Pejanovic added. The Bosnian Army commander, General Rasim Delic, claimed in "Dani" that units like the one commanded by the notorious Musan Topalovic- Caco were totally outside the system and that authorities of military security could not check reports about crimes, forwarded in 1992 and 1993. General Delic said crimes committed in the territory controlled by the Bosnian Army were acts of individuals and not the result of stands of state institutions. It took five days until authorities commented on the weekly's articles. The 26 November issue of the daily "Dnevni Avaz", close to the Moslem-led SDA political party, attacked Pejanovic of trying now to treat equally the responsibility of all three sides (Bosnian Serbs, Croats and Moslems) in the war. The daily said that "the protection of Serbs in Sarajevo by Bosniaks (Moslems) sets a bright example for the future and is proof that crimes were not the product of the system but the arbitrary acts of individuals". However, a "Dnevni Avaz" commentator admitted that in the beginning of the war some Serbs were killed "as snipers or as part of the fifth column". The commentator did not explain who could have the right to execute summarily anyone for their belonging to "the fifth column". Topalovic-Caco slaughtered civilians, even disabled people, claiming that they belonged to the fifth column. Spokesman for the international High Representative's office Duncan Bullivant said in Sarajevo that the office was concerned over the contents of the published articles. Alexander Ivanko, spokesman for the UN which also represents the International War Crimes Tribunal in Sarajevo, said that he could not comment on any investigative procedures which were underway. He decribed the probe of "Dani" journalists as very significant. The Sarajevo-based daily "Oslobodjenje" published a front-page comment piece in its 27 November issue saying that civilian authorities could not shun their responsibility for what happened while Topalovic-Caco instilled fear in Sarajevo streets. "They (authorities) have never shed light on the truth on the alleged killings of Serbs. Had they done so, Sarajevo would have waited calmly for the response of the Hague Tribunal... The integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina would be a more real vision than the current one offered by politicians," Oslobodjenje said. (hina) jn mš 272101 MET nov 97