BANJALUKA BISHOP CALLS ON SERB LEADERS TO STOP CRIMES AGAINST CATH

CATH $ OLICS ZAGREB, May 13 (Hina) - Banja Luka Bishop, Msgr. Franjo Komarica, sent a letter to Serb authorities in their stronghold of Pale on Saturday because of the cruel death of Reverend Filip Lukenda, the vicar of the Roman Catholic parish Presnace near Banja Luka and a nun, sister Cecilija Pava Grgic. In the letter Bishop Komarica requested Serb leaders to stop such crimes against innocent non-Serb residents in the area under Bosnian Serb control. The Bishop added that an investigating judge informed him this morning that two charred bodies had been found in the Presnace parish centre, mined and blown up on Friday. According to forensic examination, the victims met a violent death, and the accident was described as murder. The victims were identified as Rev. Filip Likenda and a sister Cecilija Pava Grgic. The Bishop added that the tragic consequences of the mining and destruction of the Church of St. Teresa were the death of innocent civilians. Rev. Lukenda is the fifth killed Roman-Catholic priest in the Serb-held area of Banja Luka in the last three years. Bishop Komarica asked the so-called interior minister of the Serb republic of Bosnia, Zivko Rakic, and other Bosnian Serb leaders, following recent events and all that has been done to Catholic representatives in the area: "How long will we be exposed to such unpunished, extreme criminal conduct toward us?" (hina) mms 132052 MET may 95