FORMER BOSNIAN SERB OFFICER REFUSES TO COOPERATE WITH TRIBUNAL IN THE HAGUE

THE HAGUE THE HAGUE, March 25 (Hina) - An officer of the Bosnian Serb forces, Aleksa Krsmanovic, said he was neither ready to cooperate with the prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal as regards investigations being carried out by the prosecutor, nor is he ready to act as witness in any one case before the Tribunal, said a spokesman of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, Christian Chartier. #L# After consultations with his lawyer Igor Pantelic, Colonel Krsmanovic asked for his status to be resolved before the International Tribunal in The Hague. The Judiciary Council is to consider his request on 29 March, Chartier said. In a letter of request, Pantelic said Krsmanovic was ready to give his personal statement at a public hearing or the prosecutor could take his statement with Pantelic present. Krsmanovic and General Djukic had been arrested by Bosnian authorities in Sarajevo on 30 January. Both have been held in the Tribunal's detention facilities since 12 February. Djukic had been indicted for crimes against humanity and violation of the law of war. However, an indictment against Krsmanovic has not yet been filed, but his temporary imprisonment had been prolonged until 4 April, in line with a Bosnia-Herzegovina act under which he had been apprehended. (hina) lm 251912 MET mar 96