Tanjug Daily News Review, 96-06-18

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From: Tanjug, Yugoslavia, via Serbian Unity Congress <http://www.suc.org/>

Jun 18, 1996
NEWS AGENCY - TANJUG
DAILY NEWS REVIEW

CONTENTS

[01] BILDT CONDEMNS ASSAULT ON FORMER MOSLEM PREMIER SILAJDZIC

[02] LIST OF OPPOSITION CANDIDATES FOR MOSTAR ELECTIONS ACCEPTED

[03] CONVENTIONAL, NUCLEAR WEAPONS SMUGGLED VIA SLOVENIA -- TRIESTE PRESS

[04] BOSNIAN CROATS VIOLATE DAYTON AGREEMENT

[05] YUGOSLAV PAPER: ARMS CONTROL AGREEMENT ANOTHER STEP TOWARD STABILITY

[06] YUGOSLAV FACTORY BUILDS ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY REFRIGERATORS

[07] YUGOSLAVIA NEGOTIATES COOPERATION WITH AIRBUS

[08] MONTENEGRO TO BECOME INTERNATIONAL OFF-SHORE CENTRE

[09] SKOPJE, ZAGREB TAKE SIMILAR STANDS ON FORMER YUGOSLAVIA'S SUCCESSORS

[10] UNHCR'S BELGRADE OFFICE ORGANIZES REFUGEES' VISIT TO MOSTAR

[11] RULING BOSNIAN CROAT, MUSLIM PARTIES OPPOSE FEDERATION

[12] YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT: FLORENCE CONFERENCE HELPED STRENGTHEN PEACE PROCESS

[13] FERAL TRIBUNE: TUDJMAN CUTS RIBBON FOR NEW JASENOVAC

[14] WOMEN DEMAND TRUTH ABOUT MISSING SERB FIGHTERS AND CIVILIANS

[15] HAGUE TRIBUNAL DROPS CHARGES AGAINST BOSNIAN SERB LAJIC

[16] CROATIAN AMNESTY LAW FOR ABOUT 4,500 SERBS

[17] NEW FORMS OF PERSECUTION, ASSIMILATION OF SERBS IN CROATIA

[18] ONE POLICEMAN KILLED, ANOTHER WOUNDED IN KOSOVO ATTACK

[19] SOROS FUND CONTINUES WORK IN YUGOSLAVIA UNDER NEW NAME

[20] KLICKOVIC, BUHA HOLD TALKS WITH U.N. REPRESENTATIVE

[21] YUGOSLAV PARLIAMENT ADOPTS LAW ON ELECTION UNITS

[01] BILDT CONDEMNS ASSAULT ON FORMER MOSLEM PREMIER SILAJDZIC

news agencies quoted bildt as saying after meeting with german defence minister volker ruehe in the croatian port town of split that, 'we would expect the bosnian government to take strong action because it is clearly a case of very severe political harassment prior to the elections that must not be tolerated.'

an unidentified supporter of bosnian moslem leader alija izetbegovic hit silajdzic on the head with an iron bar during a campaign rally in cazin, northwestern bosnia, on saturday.

following a break-up with izetbegovic, silajdzic had set up the party for bosnia-herzegovina.

the nato spokesman in sarajevo criticised the moslem-croat federation police for failing to protect silajdzic.

opposition parties in sarajevo said monday that the assault on silajdzic was nothing but a resumption of the clash between his party and the moslems' ruling party of democratic action.

sarajevo press reported that the incident had deepened the rift between the two parties believed to be chief rivals in elections that are to be held by mid-september.

slovene media said the assault on silajdzic, an opposition leader, pointed to federation authorities' hostility as well as to them being incapable of admitting a possible defeat in the elections.

slovene television said that, by attacking silajdzic, the party of democratic action had delivered all those who held different views a heavy blow.

[02] LIST OF OPPOSITION CANDIDATES FOR MOSTAR ELECTIONS ACCEPTED

mostar is a town in southern bosnia-herzegovina which was divided between muslims and croats after bitter fighting in 1993 into muslim east mostar and croat west mostar. the two peoples previously banished about 40,000 serbs from the town.

the town was placed under european union administration in mid-1994.

'e.u. ombudsman constantin zapos has accepted the nomination of five opposition parties,' e.u. spokesman in mostar dragan gasic told the agence france presse news agency in a telephone conversation.

gasic said the five parties were the social democratic party of bosnia-herzegovina, the croatian peasants' party, the union of bosnian social-democrats, the muslim-bosniac organization, and the republican party.

elections in mostar, originally planned for late may and then postponed after objections from the muslim side, should be held on june 30.

the croatian democratic union is also taking part in the elections.

incidents between muslims and croats in mostar have never ceased and they are increasingly frequent as the elections are getting closer.

croatian radio said a group of muslim fanatics from east mostar stoned a franciscan monastery on monday.

muslim radio later said the perpetrators had been arrested but that tensions were mounting in mostar because of the growing numbers of incidents.

[03] CONVENTIONAL, NUCLEAR WEAPONS SMUGGLED VIA SLOVENIA -- TRIESTE PRESS

the press said that partial results of a thorough investigation, disclosed by the italian civilian and military intelligence services some time ago, had showed that radioactive material and parts of nuclear weapons had been smuggled via slovenia.

a tanjug correspondent has learnt that italian high police officials asked the slovenian interior ministry to assist them in detecting arms smugglers' routes via slovenia a week ago.

the italian investigation unveiled the involvement of slovenian defense and interior ministry officials in smuggling arms out of and via slovenia.

a package of 30 grams of radioactive osmium, which was recently found in a place near venice, was yet another proof of slovenia's involvement in the international arms smuggling business since 1991, namely in smuggling arms for croatia and later for bosnian muslims.

the italian press said that osmium had been deposited in a bank safe that belonged to a son of slovenian businessman nicolas oman, who is closely connected with the highest slovenian state officials.

[04] BOSNIAN CROATS VIOLATE DAYTON AGREEMENT

the renewed mandate of vladimir soljic on the post of herceg-bosna defence minister will prevent the formation of joint institutions of the muslim-croat federation and the adoption of defence laws as he is also the federation defence minister, the statement said.

the office of high representative of the international community for bosnia carl bildt said on monday it would not be contacting with the newly-formed cabinet of the croat state in bosnia because it was contrary to the dayton agreement.

prime minister of the pro-muslim government in sarajevo hasan muratovic described the forming of the new croat cabinet as separatism and announced a quick action.

the republic of herceg-bosna was proclaimed at the beginning of conflicts in the former yugoslav republic of bosnia-herzegovina in 1992.

president of the muslim-croat federation kresimir zubak, a croat, said in an interview with the sarajevo weekly svijet that herceg-bosna existed and that it would continue to exist as a form of political and economic organization of the croat people in bosnia.

[05] YUGOSLAV PAPER: ARMS CONTROL AGREEMENT ANOTHER STEP TOWARD STABILITY

the agreement primarily aims to establish a military balance in the region and to restore mutual trust between the former confronted sides.

dnevnik warned, however, that it is still early for great optimism and reminded that an u.s. firm from virginia was recently engaged to arm and train the bosnian muslim-croat army.

under the programme of 'training and equipping' it, which is financed by the united states, turkey and middle east countries, the new army will receive u.s. tanks, helicopters, arms and communication equipment to the total value of about 800 million dollars.

bosnian muslim pirme minister hasan muratovic signed an agreement on arms reduction in florence on saturday, despite an announcement of bosnian muslim leader alija izetbegovic that the muslims would not settle for anything less than control over the whole of bosnia-herzegovina.

the peace mentioned by muslim leaders therefore seems to be no more than peace on paper, dnevnik said.

[06] YUGOSLAV FACTORY BUILDS ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY REFRIGERATORS

obod director radivoje adzic said that test production of all types of environmentally friendly refrigerators had been a success and that obod had the capacity to build 500 refrigerators of this kind a day.

[07] YUGOSLAVIA NEGOTIATES COOPERATION WITH AIRBUS

chamber of commerce president mihailo milojevic said that some yugoslav industries had the necessary technological and personnel resources to join in airbus production programmes.

there are companies in the federal republic of yugoslavia that are ready to manufacture components and sub-systems for various types of airbus aircraft, milojevic said.

the yugoslav industry has the necessary experience in this kind of jobs, having done similar work for the u.s. and french aviation industries, he added.

airbus expert team chief in charge of international cooperation michel lanusse said that the purpose of the visit was to take a close look at yugoslav factories and choose those that might take part in industrial cooperation.

lanusse said that airbus's business orientation was to cut production costs, and added that the idea was to make this strategy as much as possible suit the company's commercial interests.

it is of special importance to yugoslav industrial production to join in new development programmes in the world, and cooperation with airbus is part of this orientation, it was stressed at the chamber of commerce.

the talk at the chamber of commerce was attended by representatives of yugoslav firms interested in establishing production cooperation with airbus.

the airbus delegation's visit to yugoslavia signals the resumption of talks begun earlier in june with airbus vice president pierre carpenter, who said at the time that airbus was interested in long-term cooperation with yugoslav firms.

[08] MONTENEGRO TO BECOME INTERNATIONAL OFF-SHORE CENTRE

republican legislation secretary rajko milovic said that the bill provided for a new system of business operations of foreign legal entities and individuals in montenegro's zone of free trade, aiming to revive the economy not only in the republic but in yugoslavia as as whole.

companies will be founded only by foreigners and operations will be limited to foreign persons and companies, but those firms will be able to cooperate with domestic management, consulting and other non-financial firms, pobjeda said.

under the draft, an off-shore company will not be liable to pay customs dues or other import taxes for equipment, and will be guaranteed full security in business, milovic said.

new legal provisions will not be able to reduce in any way the rights given at the moment of the firm's founding for a period of at least 15 years, milovic said and added that similar conditions existed in switzerland, luxemburg, the united states and some other developed and market-oriented countries.

the creation of a wide zone of free trade is expected to attract foreign capital, as well as modern technology and know-how, milovic said, adding that the system would be compatible with the yugoslav legal and economic systems.

[09] SKOPJE, ZAGREB TAKE SIMILAR STANDS ON FORMER YUGOSLAVIA'S SUCCESSORS

granic told a news conference in skopje that both states were committed to a resolution of the succession issue on the basis of the conclusions made by badinter's commission, and to the position that all former yugoslav republics had equal succession rights.

the commission, named after french lawyer badinter who was its head, has concluded that the former yugoslavia has disintegrated.

the federal republic of yugoslavia (serbia/montenegro) disagrees with the commission and has repeatedly stressed that slovenia, croatia and bosnia-herzegovina have forcibly and macedonia peacefully seceded from the former yugoslavia and that it itself ensures the continuity of the former yugoslavia.

granic said croatia was prepared to cooperate with all states in the region, which he said included the normalisation of relations with belgrade provided that an agreement on the protection of minorities be signed and that no conditions be set for it.

yugoslavia also wants to normalise relations with all former yugoslav republics and, as regards croatia, calls for the resolution of the issue of the south adriatic promontory of prevlaka, situated at the mouth of yugoslavia's boka kotorska gulf.

instead of being asked any questions, granic was given a petition signed by about 40 macedonian journalists calling for the protection of professional and human rights of their croatian colleagues who are being tried in zagreb for defamation of president franjo tudjman.

viktor ivancic, editor-in-chief of the split weekly feral tribune, one of the few independent papers in croatia, and mario culic, a journalist, are being tried for criticising tudjman's plan to rebury the remains of croatian fascists ustasha near their victims at jasenovac, the site of the world war ii death camp where more than 700,000 serbs, jews, gypsies and croatian anti-fascists had perished.

[10] UNHCR'S BELGRADE OFFICE ORGANIZES REFUGEES' VISIT TO MOSTAR

officials of the unhcr's belgrade office told tanjug that the delegation constisted of nine serbs, including a former mostar mayor, and one muslim.

according to the officials, the delegation was headed by president of the association for assisting refugees and displaced persons in yugoslavia milorad muratovic and unhcr belgrade office official in charge of repatriation tina andersen.

mostar, which was one of the scenes of worst battles between muslims and croats, is divided into muslim and croat parts. before turning against each other, muslims and croats expelled more than 40,000 serbs from the region of mostar.

the delegation of refugees will meet with e.u. administrator of mostar ricardo perez casado and mayor of the muslim section of mostar safet orucevic.

they will discuss possible visits by those who found refuge in yugoslavia, return of serbs, possibilities for compensating those who do not wish to return for their property and ways of voting in the coming elections.

the unhcr officials said that the first organized voluntary returns of refugees who fled bosnia for yugoslavia will be carried out on tuesday and thursday.

five muslims will return to the eastern bosnian town of gorazde on tuesday and another 11 muslims will return to sarajevo on thursday with the unhcr assistance.

[11] RULING BOSNIAN CROAT, MUSLIM PARTIES OPPOSE FEDERATION

the muslim democratic action party and the croatian democratic union party have 'accepted the federation as a pressure and not as their own political wish and need,' komsic told local radio in the northeastern bosnian muslim-controlled town of tuzla.

komsic said that the croatian democratic union's alternative to the federation was the relization of the bosnian croat republic of herceg-bosna and that the democratic action party's alternative was the creation of a muslim state in central bosnia and the neretva river valley in southern bosnia-herzegovina, as close to the sea as possible.

komsic said that both sides in the muslim-croat federation aimed at preventing the return of refugees and displaced persons.

before they agreed to set up the federation under strong u.s. pressure in march 1994, bosnian croats and muslims fought each other for predominance for a year.

according to their own figures, about 230,000 civilians were expelled on both sides while muslims and croats fought for predominance over territories in central and southern bosnia-herzegovina.

[12] YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT: FLORENCE CONFERENCE HELPED STRENGTHEN PEACE PROCESS

adopting a report on a yugoslav delegation's participation in the conference, the yugoslav government stressed the importance of the implementation of the dayton agreement, especially of holding free elections in bosnia-herzegovina according to schedule (in mid-september) and securing freedom of movement and return of refugees, the yugoslav information secretariat said in a statement.

the yugoslav government instructed the foreign ministry to continue its diplomatic activities aimed at promoting peace process and normalizing relations with the former yugoslav republics.

the office of yugoslav prime minister radoje kontic said on monday that intensive activities aimed at normalizing the yugoslav-e.u. relations should continue and instructed the foreign ministry to set up a inter-departmental group to work on this issue.

adopting a report by yugoslav foreign minister milan milutinovic on talks with a e.u. delegation in belgrade on june 7-8, the yugoslav government described the talks as very successful.

at the talks with the e.u. delegation, headed by italian foreign minister lamberto dini, it was agreeed on further activities in the implementation of the dayton agreement, the government said.

the statement quoted the yugoslav delegation as saying that the e.u. platform on strengthening regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations in the former yugoslavia was based on the principles of equal treatment of yugoslavia in comparison with the former yugoslav republics.

the government said that a yugoslav delegation to the june 11 oslo conference, where the adoption of an agreement on subregional arms control was discussed, had consistently adhered to the government platform. yugoslav government's remarks to the text of the agreement were accepted at oslo, the statement said.

[13] FERAL TRIBUNE: TUDJMAN CUTS RIBBON FOR NEW JASENOVAC

the head of state also carried out a 'drastic ethnic cleasning of jasenovac' when he said that he came to remember the tragedy of the croatians in wwii 'forgetting to mention 'the victims of other peoples, feral commentator marinko culic said.

during the second world war croatian national fascists - the ustashas killed some 700,000 serbs,jews, gypsies and a smaller number of croatian anti-fascists in the jasenovac concentration camp.

tudjman has lately repeated his intention to bury together the victims of jasenovac and their murderers, the ustashas, which has met with general condemnation in the world.

the commentator of the split paper quoted the president of the jewish municpality in zagreb ognjen kraus as saying recently that the reorganisation of jasneovac would be in breach of the european parliament resolution on the protection of concentration camps as historic monuments.

feral tribune has already written about tudjman's ideas ridiculing his intentions to rearrange jasenovac and tailor history. the editor-in-chief of the paper viktor ivancic and the writer of the commentary culic are on trial for insulting tudjman.

in contrast to the feral the government-controlled zagereb daily vjiesnik, said monday that by laying wreaths in jasenovac tudjman made a gesturere similar to the one made by willy brandt in the warsaw ghetto.

[14] WOMEN DEMAND TRUTH ABOUT MISSING SERB FIGHTERS AND CIVILIANS

the women were prompted by the eight-month uncertainty about the fate of 1,150 missing serb fighters and 805 civilians following last year's muslim-croat offensive in northwestern bosnian krajina and ozren, areas which are part of the muslim-croat federation under the dayton agreement.

the women announced they would continue the blockade on monday evening and on tuesday.

mothers and wives of the imprisoned serb fighters appealed to the international community to exert pressure on all the three sides in the bosnian conflict to release all imprisoned persons and to learn the truth about the number of killed fighters and where they were buried.

the women were addressed at 13:00hrs by the acting head of the osce office ronald dreyer, who announced the visit of russian ambassador from sarajevo vladimir ivanov to resolve the problem

the assembly of the association of families of imprisoned and missing serb fighters and civilians said that the international community has not carried out the provisons of the dayton agreement to release all prisoners of war by january 19.

the association also said that exhuming of mass graves in the territory of the croat-muslim federation was not allowed.

the fact that the list of 11,000 missing persons compiled by the international committee of the red cross includes only 350 persons from republika srpska supports the claim that the international community does not eqaully treat all parties in the conflict.

[15] HAGUE TRIBUNAL DROPS CHARGES AGAINST BOSNIAN SERB LAJIC

jorda released lajic after his hearing, when lajic himself, his defense attorneys toma fila of belgrade and australian grant niemen, said it was a case of mistaken identity and that the alleged crimes had been committed by another person of the same name and about the same age.

nine of the 10 witnesses who testified, all bosnian muslims, confirmed that the man in court was not the person who committed the alleged crimes.

niemen and fila said only one of the 10 witnesses had said he recognized lajic in photographs shown to them on may 17 during the investigative proceedings against lajic.

this was sufficient for the prosecution to drop the charges and judge jorda to set lajic free.

lajic, 30, an economic technician from the biggest bosnian serb town of banja luka, was arrested in germany on march 18 this year, after certain bosnians allegedly recgnized him as a guard of the keraterm camp near the town of prijedor in western bosnia.

the hague tribunal prosecutor raised an indictment against lajic on july 21, 1995.

following (bosnian serb) republika srpska army gen. djordje djukic and col. aleksa krsmanovic, lajic is the third bosnian serb to be released by the hague tribunal. gen. djukic was released for reasons of ill health and died soon afterwards, and col. krsmanovic was released for lack of evidence.

judge jorda said the court had justly decided to release lajic on the grounds of irrefutable proof that it was a case of mistaken identity.

this throws new light on the trial of dusan tadic, another bosnian serb.

namely, tadic and his defense attorneys also claim that this is a case of mistaken identity and that tadic is not the person named in the indictment.

[16] CROATIAN AMNESTY LAW FOR ABOUT 4,500 SERBS

this law, which was passed last month, was criticized even by western diplomats, who said it was vague and inadequate.

croatian vice-premier ivica kostovic and justice minister miroslav separovic told a press conference in zagreb on monday that the amnesty law which took effect on may 31 would apply to '4,474 persons in eastern slavonija, baranja and west srem.'

they said the law would not cover persons accused of war crimes.

kostovic and separovic said the government would not take this issue any further for the time being and that 50 persons had been found guilty of war crimes in croatia.

they said proceedings were currently under way against a certain number of persons suspected of having committed war crimes and that this law would not cover them.

eastern slavonija, baranja and west srem are the eastern part of the republic of serb krajina, whose western parts were overran by the croatian army last year. more than 250,000 serbs were banished from their lands in the process.

the republic of serb krajina was proclaimed by serbs in the former yugoslav republic of croatia in their ethnic and historical lands after croatia in 1991 fought a war for secession from the former yugoslav federation.

[17] NEW FORMS OF PERSECUTION, ASSIMILATION OF SERBS IN CROATIA

under the draft law on the croatian language, a person who uses more than five serbian words in one page of text shall be fined or sentenced to between three months and three years in prison.

the bill, drafted by ivan kramaric, a counsellor at the justice ministry, proposes that persons using up to five serbian words in radio, television or public speeches be fined between 1,000 and 5,000 kunas (5.5 kunas are sold to a dollar).

if the bill is adopted, the remaining 150,000 serbs in croatia will lose their fundamental right -- the right to use their own language -- and will be subject to complete assimilation.

the position of serbs in croatia seriously deteriorated after croatia's military offensives on the serb krajina last year, in which over 300,000 serbs were expelled from their homes, the paper said.

it said that the harassment of serbs began with their first day at school at the age of seven.

many children try to hide their nationality, or declare themselves as 'orthodox croats,' the paper said, adding that catechism was taught to serb children mostly by catholic priests.

there is a growing number of serbs who decide to change their names, the paper said and gave the example of actor cedo vujic from zagreb, who shortened his name to edo. this, however, helped him very little because he is now known as 'mister c,' the paper said.

president of the serb community in croatia borislav arsenijevic said between five and six serbs request to be given their baptism certificates from their church authorities in zagreb, which leads to the conclusion that they massively turn to the catholic religion in order to fend off problems.

serbs made up one fifth of croatia's population before the republic's violent secession from the former yugoslav federation, and they are now estimated not to exceed more than two or three percent.

[18] ONE POLICEMAN KILLED, ANOTHER WOUNDED IN KOSOVO ATTACK

sources in the kosovska mitrovica court told tanjug on tuesday that the unidentified attackers had hit the police car with four bullets.

predrag djordjevic (32), the killed policeman, was sitting beside the driver, while wounded zoran vukojevic (30) was at the wheel when the patroc came under attack. the latter was immediately transferred to the pristina surgical clinic and his life is still not out of danger.

traces found on the spot indicate that at least two attackers had opened fire from an automatic 7.62-mm weapon and from a 7.9-mm weapon.

this is the second attack on police patrols in kosovo and metohija in the past three days.

on sunday evening, policeman goran mitrovic was wounded in an attack from automatic weapon near pristina, and he is still at the local hospital.

a strong secessionist movement of ethnic albanians has been active in the province for the past few decades, aiming to secede it from serbia and yugoslavia and to join it to neighbouring albania.

the police is the most frequent target of extremist attacks, but civilian casulties have also been reported.

the executive board of serbia's ruling socialist party and the youth union in kosovo and metohija said in separate statements on tuesday that attacks on policemen in podujevo and kosovska mitrovica jeopardised peace in the province.

the executive board said the attacks undermined all efforts to restore a lasting peace to the province and create stable conditions for a peaceful and safe life of all citizens, regardless of their ethnic or other origin.

the youth union said it was no coincidence that the terrorist attacks were launched while the international community and yugoslav authorities were urging dialogue and a peaceful resolution of issues in kosovo and metohija.

[19] SOROS FUND CONTINUES WORK IN YUGOSLAVIA UNDER NEW NAME

the soros fund was registered in yugoslavia under its new name on june 7.

the founder of the fund is george soros, hungarian-born american businessman and its director is sonja liht, university professor from belgrade.

the fund will continue work on former programmes, first of all its medical programme which has been one of its mainstays in the fund's three-and-a-half year work and it also plans completely new activities, liht said.

she said the fund will give priority to aid for collective refugee centers, cultural and educational prorammes and aid to magazines.

the fund will proceed with a speedy distribution of medical supplies and equipment which had been kept in storage over the past months while medical apparatus which has already been bought and is waiting for completion of the import procedure will reach the health institutions a little later, she said.

the former soros fund operated in yugoslavia from june 1991 to may 1995 when its activities were suspended because its registration in 1991 in the former yugoslavia had not been legally regulated.

[20] KLICKOVIC, BUHA HOLD TALKS WITH U.N. REPRESENTATIVE

as was made public at pale, the administrative centre of the serb entity in bosnia and herzegovina (bih), buha voiced content during the talks with results of the florence conference. he added that the r.s. would take part in september elections.

buha also expressed dissatisfaction of the serb side regarding the way it was treated in allocating reconstruction resources.

buha stressed that if the r.s. were further exempted from reconstruction allocations, it would be compelled to go into bilateral arrangements with other states and rely upon its own forces.

[21] YUGOSLAV PARLIAMENT ADOPTS LAW ON ELECTION UNITS

under the amended law serbia will have 29 election units instead of nine and montenegro seven insted of one.

the upper house of parliament adopted the law a month ago.

yugoslav deputy prime minsiter uros klikovac said in the parliamentary discussion that the law does not change the election system in the country and does not eliminate the proportional system as claimed by opposition deputies.

he said the law was a technical regulation and refuted the opposition's claims that it needed a two-thirds majority to be adopted.

deputies of four opposition parties - the serbian renewal movement (spo), the serbian radical party (srs), the democratic party (ds) and the national party of montenegro (nscg) did not participate in the parliament discussion.

representatives of the parties said they would ask the yugoslav constitutional court to assess the constitutionality of the adopted amendemnts.

they said at a joint press conferene in the yugoslav parliament that the adopted changes were 'illegal' and that they 'were in breach of the constitution and law on the election of federl deputies'.

at a separate press conference deputies of radical party announced they would also initiate the assessement of constitutionality of the law.

Copyright © Tanjug, Yugoslavia, 1996

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