VICTIMOLOGICAL SOCIETY TO PRESS CHARGES AGAINST GHALI, OWEN

ZAGREB, Nov 8 (Hina) - The president of the Croatian Victimological Society, Zvonimir Separovic, today welcomed the beginning of the work of the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, but warned of flaws which could call its efficiency into question. Separovic said the international tribunal only had power to press charges against people who had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity while those who had committed crimes against peace would go unpunished. He said Croatia should propose an amendment to the tribunal's statute to expand its authority in this regard. Separovic noted that the Bassiouni commission for investigating war crimes in former Yugoslavia had not completed its task because it was left without funds. "The UN, headed by Boutros Boutros-Ghali, stopped financing the Commission, demanding that it slow down its work so as not to jeopardize the peace process. On the other hand, Lord Owen openly asked Prof. Bassiouni to reduce the number of crimes committed by Serbs and increase those committed by Moslems and Croats in order to apportion equal blame on all the three parties," Separovic said. Separovic emphasized that this prompted the Croatian Victimological Society to "take legal action on behalf of the people (actio popularis) against Boutros-Ghali and Owen because of their overt support to Serbian aggression and because of committing a crime of ommission." (hina) mm vm 081740 MET nov 94