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Serbian Deputy Premier Involved in Espionage Affair, Army Says -Informed sources said Neighbor heads the CIA's Balkans desk. BELGRADE, Mar 18, 2002 -- (dpa) Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Momcilo Perisic was released on Saturday after spending two days in prison in an espionage case. The Yugoslav army has accused its former top general of revealing defense-related secrets to foreign citizens. "Just say I was released ... I am not guilty," Perisic told the Belgrade-based News Agency Beta, adding that he "can't reveal any details". An investigative judge ordered the release of Perisic and others arrested with him on Thursday, his lawyer Slobodan Bozic told journalists. But, in the first public statement since the arrest, the Yugoslav Army (VJ) General Staff accused both Perisic and Colonel Miodrag Sekulic Saturday of revealing top defense-related secrets to foreign citizens. "VJ intelligence has disrupted illegal activity and has come into possession of evidence confirming the suspicion that a criminal act of espionage was committed," the army statement said. Perisic 57, a former chief of the general staff, was detained on Thursday along with a U.S. diplomat named as John David Neighbor. Informed sources said Neighbor heads the CIA's Balkans desk. One of two others arrested with him and Perisic at a roadside restaurant was a Yugoslav colonel in charge of electronic surveillance, they said. Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica confirmed early Saturday that the former general has been indicted for espionage. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic criticized the action as a "scandal of international proportions", but offered only a weak defense of Perisic, saying he would be held accountable if the charges proved to be true. Military sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that Perisic and the diplomat were caught with secret documents that could link former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to war crimes in Bosnia. Milosevic is currently on trial before the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague for ordering ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia. (C)2002. dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - live college hoops coverage http://sports.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
