POLICE SAY NO MASS GRAVES IN ZADAR AREA

ZADAR, July 4 (Hina) - The Zadar County police on Thursday dismissed allegations made by the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights on Wednesday that there were mass graves in the Zadar area containing citizens of Serb nationality. Deputy police chief Ivan Brzoja and Civil Defence Dapartment director Stanko Batur told a press conference that a number of Serbs killed in the Zadar hinterland during a Croatian military operation last summer had been decently buried in Zadar. Victims had been photographed for investigation purposes in the presence of international observers and had been identified whenever it was possible. Each victim was buried in a separate tomb above which a wooden cross was put up with identification data, they said. They said that documentation on the burials was available and that international observers and the Serb side had seen it. Brzoja i Batur stressed that the burials had been conducted in line with the Geneva Convention and international law. (hina) vm 041927 MET jul 96