BELGRADE: OVCARA WAR CRIMES TRIAL CONTINUES

BELGRADE, April 29 (Hina) - Eight prosecutorial witnesses testifying before the Special War Crimes Court in Belgrade at the trial of six persons accused of killing at least 192 civilians at Ovcara outside the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar in 1991, confirmed on Thursday they knew the defendants and had learned of the Ovcara war crime much later.#L# The witnesses said that the defendants were keeping guard in Vukovar's Petrova Gora Street, where guards were mostly kept by locals. A volunteer from Smederevo, Milan Filipovic, said he believed that the defendants, like himself, were "under the command of Captain Miroslav Radic and Major Veselin Sljivancanin", former Yugoslav People's Army officers. One of the witnesses, a Serb Radical Party volunteer from Belgrade, Goran Valjarevic Dzo, was reprimanded at the end of his testimony by presiding judge Vesko Krstajic because he said that he was honoured to know the defendants. Jovan Radan, a relative of the principal indictee Miroljub Vujovic, was also reprimanded because he said that in "other patriotic countries streets are named after people like the ones who are on trial". Today's hearing was attended, along with 17 members of the families of Ovcara victims, by representatives of the Croatian Embassy in Belgrade, Croatian government observers - attorneys Goran Mikulicic and Cedo Prodanovic, the legal representatives of 53 families whose dearest ones were killed at Ovcara - Belgrade attorneys Rajko Danilovic, Nikola Barovic, Slobodan Tomic and Dragoljub Todorovic, as well as the president of the Humanitarian Law Fund, Natasa Kandic. The president of the "Vukovar Mothers" association, Ivan Psenica, whose son is still missing, told reporters after the hearing that the 198 victims cited in the indictment was not the final figure. Eight victims have not been identified yet and the association is still looking for another 68 victims. Psenica called on those with relevant information to help shed light on the fate of all missing persons. He said that representatives of the association met the director of Belgrade's School of Military Medicine, Zoran Stankovic, who participated in exhumations in Vukovar in 1991 and whom they asked for help in accessing relevant documentation at the Belgrade Military Court. The Ovcara trial will continue on June 21, when more witnesses will be questioned. During a nine-day hearing, the court will hear the testimonies of witnesses with more direct knowledge of the Ovcara crime. (Hina) rml