CRO DEFENCE MINISTER MEETS THREE ACQUITTED BOSNIAN CROATS

( Editorial: --> 9998 ) ZAGREB, 21 Dec (Hina) - Croatian Defence Minister Gojko Susak met Saturday in the Zagreb hotel 'Intercontinental' with Marinko Katava, Pero Skopljak and Ivan Santic, three Bosnian Croats, who were acquitted of war crimes charges by the Hague International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The three Croats were released on Friday evening and arrived in Zagreb by plane on Saturday. Susak said he "was more than happy that all three of them have come back". "To be honest, I did not expect such a speedy return," Susak said, adding he hoped that others would return in the same way. Perhaps it would be a somewhat longer process, "but I don't doubt at all that all those who went to The Hague of their own accord, including Tihomir Blaskic, would return home innocent, as they were when they went there," Susak said. (hina) rm 211145 MET dec 97