'GLOBUS' EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & REPORTER RECEIVE SUSPENDED SENTENCE

( Editorial: --> 2520 ) ZAGREB, March 26 (Hina) - The editor-in-chief and a journalist of the Zagreb-based weekly 'Globus', Davor Butkovic and Vlado Vurusic respectively, received suspended sentences of one year for offence and libel. The Zagreb Municipal Court on Thursday sentenced Butkovic to four months in prison with a one-year probation period while Vurusic was sentenced to two months' imprisonment with a one-year probation. Butkovic's and Vurusic's attorney Vesna Alaburic said she would lodge a complaint against the court decision. Butkovic and Vurusic were sued by the Croatian Defence Ministry for a text published in "Globus" of 25 October, 1996, which claimed that Croatian Defence Council (HVO) brigadier Ivica Rajic, accused of war crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina, lived in the military hotel "Zagreb" in Split. Judge Ranko Marijan said the claims in "Globus", written in a form of unambiguous and reliable information, did damage to the honour and reputation of the Defence Ministry and its employees, because they implied that the Defence Ministry was hiding Ivica Rajic. Explaining Butkovic's sentence, Judge Marijan said that Butkovic had already been convicted of the same offence. (hina) jn rm/mrb 261554 MET mar 98