The warden of the Split prison, Mirko Bisovic, confirmed that Tonci Vrkic, Andjelko Botic and Ante Gudic were in prison. Emilijo Bungur, who according to unofficial sources was arrested as well, is not in the Bilice prison, but Bisovic did not rule out the possibility that he was arrested and detained at some other location.
The spokesperson for Split County Court, Judge Marica Scepanovic, said that the chairperson of the war crimes panel of judges, Spomenka Tonkovic, received an official report from the prison administration saying that the three indictees were in custody, but no official information on Bungur's arrest had arrived yet.
According to sources close to the judiciary, police and the indictees' defence counsel, Bungur will be taken to the prison hospital in Zagreb due to health reasons.
Judge Scepanovic said that Judge Tonkovic was expected to issue a special order for his transfer to Zagreb.
The first indictee in the case and head of the Lora prison in 1992, Tomislav Duic, and indictees Josip Bikic, Miljenko Bajic and Davor Banic are unavailable to the judiciary. Duic has been at large since the start of the first trial, while Bikic and Bajic did not return to prison after the Supreme Court quashed the ruling on their release.
In November 2002, the Split County Court acquitted the eight. In August this year the Supreme Court quashed the verdict and ordered a re-trial.
On September 29 the Supreme Court decided to grant the State Prosecutor's motion to rule detention for the accused, and the decision arrived at the Split court at the end of office hours yesterday, after which the police started with the arrests.