FAMILY MEMBERS RECOGNIZE OBDUCTED CIVILIANS IN VUKOVAR TV FOOTAGE

ZAGREB, March 27 (Hina) - The footage shot in Vukovar on November 18-19, 1991 by British ITN TV reporter Michael Nicholson was shown in Zagreb on Tuesday evening. On November 18, 1991 Nicholson filmed the surrender of Croatian troops and the exit of a long line of civilians from Vukovar. On November 19 in the morning Nicholson filmed the Vukovar hospital, just before the troops of the former Yugoslav National Army (JNA) entered it. The viewing was organized by Apel, a centre for the protection of human rights of exiled and missing Croatian citizens and their families. It was attended by members of these families, and by ambassadors and embassy representatives of nine countries. The Apel activists invited the attending diplomats and the whole international public to help find out about the fate of the missing and exiled Croatian citizens during the Serbian aggression on Croatia. The footage clearly shows that the persons reported missing were alive on November 19, 1991 and that they were abducted by JNA. According to Apel president Zdenka Farkas, JNA and Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic know what happened to them. Ivan Grujic, president of the Croatian Government Commission on Missing And Exiled Persons, showed Serbian TV footage featuring a Belgrade Military Academy pathologist who stated that he and his colleagues performed autopsies on 1500 dead from Vukovar. "Documentation on these autopsies exists in the Belgrade Military Academy", Grujic said, calling on the international community to help Croatia obtain these documents. During the viewing, family members recognized Mato Perak, Kresimir Ratkovic, Damjan Samardzic, Zlatan Voloder, Tomislav Tot and Marko Begcevic, who are still unaccounted for. The showing was attended by representatives of USA, Belgium, Great Britain, France, Sweden, Greece, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Russia, as well as representatives of the European Monitor Mission and the Croatian Red Cross. (hina) jn ha as 271311 MET mar 96