INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 'BLEIBURG 1945-1995' ENDS IN ZAGREB

ZAGREB, May 13 (Hina) - A two-day international conference "Bleiburg 1945-1995", dedicated to victims - Croatian soldiers and civilians - killed 50 years ago by the Yugoslav People's Army (the JNA) in the Bleiburg field, Austria, was finished this evening in Zagreb by a concluding speech of Kazimir Sviben, the head of the Croatian parliamentary commission for victims of WW II and the post-war period. The conference was attended by many scholars from Croatia and abroad, as well as by participants in the 'Bleiburg Golgotha, who survived that tragedy of the Croatian people. In the speech Mr. Sviben emphasized that the Zagreb conference should contribute to the commission in the search for the truth and right number of the Croatian victims on the Bleiburg field and the post WW II period. He said that in WW II as well as at the moment Croatian people had to fight for their freedom and against the imperialism of a Greater Serbia. A priest, Rev. Anto Bakovic, said at this afternoon's part of the conference that 64 Roman Catholic priests had been killed in the Bleiburg tragedy. He added that after the official end of WW II on May 9, 1995, the JNA with other organizations of the former Yugoslavia such as notorious 'UDBA' and 'OZNA' and the Communist Party killed 118 members of the Roman Catholic Church among Croats. The Yugoslav partisans killed 511 bishops, priests, monks and nuns, according to Bakovic's figures. (hina) mms 131930 MET may 95