"Both the Croatian and Serbian security and judge Spomenka Tonkovic, as well as the state prosecutor, were fair and highly professional. Other witnesses must know that and they must go to Split to testify," said Vojkan Zivkovic, one of the eight witnesses from Serbia and Montenegro who took the witness stand in the trial this week.
Upon their return to Belgrade on Friday, the witnesses held a news conference which was organised by the Humanitarian Law Fund in the Serbian capital.
Another witness, Milan Tosic, commended presiding judge Tonkovic for her conduct of the trial and for not tolerating insults which some indictees levelled against the witnesses.
The eight witnesses, who were detained in the Lora military prison in Split in 1992 and who testified about the torture they were exposed to, stressed that the indictment did not include all persons who were responsible for the crimes.
The Fund's director, Natasa Kandic, told reporters that the Fund's observers and representatives of a regional team of non-governmental organisations were monitoring the trial in Split and were developing a programme for witness support.
Judge Tonkovic presides over the Split County Court trial chamber conducting the Lora war crimes retrial.
The first trial, led by Judge Slavko Lozina, drew strong public criticism over the way in which the controversial judge conducted the proceedings. After he acquitted the eight indictees, the Croatian Supreme Court quashed the ruling, ordering a retrial before a new trial chamber.