BELGRADE, March 9 (Hina) - The reading of the indictment marked the start of the trial of six people accused of war crimes committed at the Ovcara farm outside Vukovar in 1991 before the Special War Crimes Court in Belgrade on
Tuesday. The first indictee, Miroljub Vujovic, a former commander of the Territorial Defence units in Vukovar, entered a plea of not guilty, as during the investigation.
BELGRADE, March 9 (Hina) - The reading of the indictment marked the
start of the trial of six people accused of war crimes committed at
the Ovcara farm outside Vukovar in 1991 before the Special War Crimes
Court in Belgrade on Tuesday. The first indictee, Miroljub Vujovic, a
former commander of the Territorial Defence units in Vukovar, entered
a plea of not guilty, as during the investigation.#L#
Vujovic started presenting his defence by complaining to the presiding
judge, Vesko Krstajic, about "a media massacre, which is being
committed by publishing the identity of the accused" and added that he
was not guilty of the Ovcara crime. "That is a pure fabrication," he
said, denying his participation in the crime.
Speaking highly of Hague tribunal indictees Veselin Sljivancanin, Mile
Mrksic and Miroslav Radic, Vujovic accused a former head of the
Yugoslav People's Army's counter-intelligence service (KOS),
Aleksandar Vasiljevic, of being responsible for the trials that are
being conducted in The Hague and Belgrade and added that he got to
know the other indictees only after the war events in 1991.
Present in the courtroom on the first day of the trial were also
representatives of NGOs from Zagreb and Belgrade, officials of the
Croatian Embassy in Belgrade, as well as members of the Committee for
the Protection of Veselin Sljivancanin and Sljivancanin's two
daughters.
The trial resumes tomorrow.
(Hina) rml sb