THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Jan 12 (Hina) - The trial of retired Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) general Pavle Strugar, who commanded the JNA attack on Dubrovnik in 1991, continued before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Monday with
testimony by prosecutorial witness John B. Allcock.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Jan 12 (Hina) - The trial of retired Yugoslav
People's Army (JNA) general Pavle Strugar, who commanded the JNA
attack on Dubrovnik in 1991, continued before the UN war crimes
tribunal in The Hague on Monday with testimony by prosecutorial
witness John B. Allcock.#L#
Allcock, a sociologist and history professor at Bradford University in
Great Britain, is an expert on East Europe and former Yugoslavia and
the author of a number of books on the region, the best known being
"Explaining Yugoslavia" from 2000.
Allcock prepared a report on historical, geographic, cultural,
economic and other characteristics of the Dubrovnik area, which served
as the basis for his testimony.
The 70-year-old Strugar, commander of the JNA 2nd Operations Group,
which was formed to carry out attacks on Dubrovnik, was indicted on
nine counts for violations of the laws and customs of war, cruel
treatment, attacks on civilians, and the destruction of religious and
cultural buildings and historical monuments in Dubrovnik in the period
between 6 and 31 December 1991.
Allcock was questioned by defence attorney Vladimir Petrovic, who most
of the time tried to challenge the credibility of his testimony,
claiming that as a sociologist Allcock "does not possess adequate
knowledge" to discuss historical, geographic, architectural and other
questions.
The defence stressed the health problems of their client, stating that
during the court recess physicians at the tribunal's detention centre
had carried out a series of examinations on their client, who they
said was under strong medication.
The trial will resume on Tuesday with the introduction of another
prosecutorial witness.
(Hina) rml sb