REPORT ON ALLEGED ARREST OF BOSNIAN CROAT REMAINS UNCONFIRMED

ZAGREB, THE HAGUE, Aug 18 (Hina) - Croatian officials were on Monday unable to confirm a Reuter news item saying that one Bosnian Croat accused of war crimes was detained in Zagreb. Quoting a statement by an unnamed Zagreb County Court judge, the British news agency reported on Monday that Pero Skopljak, a Bosnian Croat accused of war crimes, was detained in Zagreb and would probably be turned over to The Hague-based International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Tuesday. On Monday Hina was unable to get a confirmation on the accuracy of the claims from official representatives of Croatian judicial bodies. ICTY spokesman Christian Chartier told news agency AFP in The Hague that the tribunal had spoken with its representatives in Zagreb in relation to Reuter's report, but could not get a confirmation neither on the arrest nor on a possible turnover of the accused to ICTY. (hina) ha jn 181833 MET aug 97