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                                        NEWS: EVENING BULLETIN

          HIGH TENSION AT KOSOVO

Prishtine, Apr 23, 1996 (Press TWRA) - This afternoon, in the
Prishtine residential area of Sun�ani Brijeg, about 10,000
Albanian women peacefully protested against a murder of an
Albanian student committed by a Serb two days ago. it is the first
& the biggest Albanian public protest at Kosovo since 1992,. when
300,000 people demonstrated against decision of occupying Serb
authorities on suspension of classes in Albanian. Serb police
released in Prishtine that several attacks occurred at several
Kosovo's  settlements last night, when  five Serb were killed
among them one policeman, while another four Serbs were injured.
     Representatives of Albanian associations at Kosovo warned
that Milosevic's regime, after the war ventures in Slovenia,
Croatia and B-H would redirect its violence on Kosovo , where
Greater Serbian expansion started seven years ago, when Serb
nationalists celebrated 6 centuries of defeat inflicted on them by
the Ottoman Empire. Albanian representatives demanded recognition
of the republic of Kosovo, to be equalized with Serbia and
Montenegro within FR Yugoslavia. So Albanians temporarily gave up
independence of Kosovo and/or its unification with Albania.
However, they are not in favour of the degree of autonomy which
Kosovo had in Serbia and SFR Yugoslavia in the period 1974-89,  as
demanded by the USA and international community. Serb regime does
not support restoration of such autonomy, either. Allegedly,
negotiations were held between the Serbs and Albanians on likely
division of Kosovo but their views on the issue diverge. Albanians
would agree for the Leposavi� county to be separated from Kosovo
and attached to Serbia, while Bujanovac and Preshevo belonging
Serbia would  be joined to Kosovo. Contrary to this, Serbs want to
keep Bujanovac and Preshevo beside Leposavi�i (north Kosovo, so-
called Metohija), and a large area in central Kosovo including
Kosovska Mitrovica, the Trep�a mines and Kosovo Polje near
Prishtine, where great Turk-Serb battle occurred in 1389. The area
demanded by Serbs includes most of the Kosovo natural resources
populated by Albanian majority. Albanians are ready to give
guarantee on maintaining the Serb monasteries at Kosovo,
stressing that in the previous centuries they had been safe in
Albanian populated areas. Yet, they do not accept continuation of
the status quo while Greater Serbian ideologists in Belgrade
advocate extermination or expulsion of Albanians from Kosovo,
claiming that due to a high birth rate in near future,Albanians
would be majority population in Serbia. The observers regard  it
an absurd, as in Serbia (along with Vojvodina and Kosovo), live
over 7 million Serb and over two million Albanians (together with
150,000 Montenegrians and Serbs at Kosovo). Mounting Serb military
and heavily armed police is great at Kosovo now.(end) A.S.

      CORRECTION OF THE WRONG ALLEGATION: STRACABO�KO-DVORSKI-
RIMAC

Zagreb, Apr 23, 1996 (Press TWRA) - Sini�a Stracabo�ko suspected
of murdering Marcelo Popovi� according to �ime Medani�'s order,
was named Dvorski, before he took his wife's surname. Sini�a
Dvorski/Stracabo�ko "Rambo" did not kill the Serb family  Zec on
mt. Sljeme, north of Zagreb. The murder was committed by Sini�a
Rimac, who after the crime remained at his post of - the guard of
Croatia's Ministry of Defence.
     Sini�a Dvorski (b. in 1962) was imprisoned for a murder in
Amsterdam for 6 years and tried in Austria for organizing
prostitution. He lost Austrian citizenship in 1991 when he joined
Croatian army from which he was dismissed in 1995 when in 1994 was
accused of illegal possessing the arms and five murder attempts in
Pula. In 1991, he was fighting in Hrvatska Kostajnica and Petrinja
while some denies his role as  important. (end) A.S.


  MATE GRANI� DOES NOT WANT TO BE IN THE COMPANY OF MIHAJLO
HRASTOV

Zagreb, Karlovac, Apr 23, 1996 (Press TWRA) - Croatian Vice-prime
and foreign minister Mate Grani�, in the letter to the president
of the Karlovac County Assembly Ivica Cindri�, thanked for the
acknowledgment on the occasion of the County's Day.Yet, he
described as unpleasant and disappointing the news that the same
acknowledgment was awarded on the same day to the policeman
Mihajlo Hrastov against whom criminal charges have been brought
due to violation of the international humanitarian and war law.
Grani� appeals for reconsideration of the acknowledgment given to
Hrastov.
     Prior to that, Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO) warned that
on Sept 21, 1991 Hrastov, as a member of a Croatian police special
unit, was given an order to take over, on the bridge across the
Korana river in Rakovac, near Karlovac, a group of captured local
Serbs who were mobilized by Yugoslav army in the war against
Croatia.Although those disarmed people did not threaten the
security of Croatian policemen, Hrastov shot at them, firing a
burst from machine-gun "Ultimax", and then when they fell down on
the ground, he shot at the heads, bodies and legs of the survived
from a pistol from a close distance. The victims-Jovan Sipi�, Bo�o
Kozlina, Neboj�a Popovi�, Milenko Luka�, Mili� Savi�, Nikola
Babi�, Slobodan Mlilovanovi�, Svetozar Gojkovi�, Milo� Srdi�,
Zoran Komadina, Mile Babi�, Vaso Bi�i�, Mile Peura�a were stabbed
with knife. Only 2 persons survived the massacre: Du�ko Miri� and
Sveto �ari�. Arrested on March 1992, Hrastov was released  and
given loud cheering of the present in the Karlovac Court, Sept
1992. Early in 1994, Croatian Supreme Court annulled the sentence.
HHO warned that Croatia's president Tudjman last year awarded
Hrastov with the medal Nikola �ubi� Zrinski "for a brave deed in
war". Grani� did not mention the medal  nor he explicitly asked
Tudjman to reconsider it. (end) A.S.

     RESTRICTING FREEDOM OF MEDIA IN CROATIA

Zagreb, Apr 23, 1996 (Press TWRA) - Today' Zagreb daily "Vjesnik"
for the first time after several years of being published in usual
size, was issued in a large size, the result of its  new editor in
chief Nenad Ivankovi�'s decision. Ivankovi� sacked 15 journalists
among them Franjo Kiseljak, an experienced reporter from Croatian
parliament whose work was criticized by some members o the ruling
HDZ. Further purge is expected in the papers in which last year
Ante Ivkovic replaced Kre�imir Fija�ko who increased selling of
the paper. Benevolent to HDZ, till then unknown journalist, was
very critical towards the opposition and independent media and
authorities of the neighbouring B-H. N. Ivankovi�, who as a
correspondent from Germany, (like A. Ivkovi�, now Croatian
cultural attache in Sofia) was known for his criticism of Sarajevo
and Croatian opposition, is believed to intensify the trend. When
the opposition leader M. Veselica in the TV program in live warned
that Ivankovi� once wrote in bad manner about Croat nationalists
and human rights supporters and Catholic church, Croatian TV
excused Ivankovi� due "to the insult", president Tudjman received
him, too. After Croatian customs tried to impose enormously high
fines (several mill. of DEM) on the only independent daily "Novi
list" left, issued in Rijeka, over 30,000 citizens (20% residents)
and 8,000 more in the surrounding settlements signed the petition
against it. Editors of "Novi l." accuse Hrvoje �arini�, president
Tudjman's closest associate of the campaign against the paper.
Last year �arini� failed in to impose alternative "Novi list."
Some associations, among them Croatian PEN Center protested
against the Law on information by which HDZ tries to legalize the
persecution of media "insulting state high officials" and those
who "disclose state secrets". HDZ high official V. �eks, creator
of the law, whose expulsion from PE.N.was announced ,accused the
Center of  "anarchism". "Reporters without borders" in the letter
to Croatia's president protested against the law but he, along
with other similar appeals, ignored the letter. (end) A.S.
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