RIJEKA, Jan 21 (Hina) - Croatia's Deputy Interior Minister in 1991, Smiljan Reljic, on Tuesday corroborated the authenticity of an audio tape saying two defendants in the Gospic Group war crimes trial, Tihomir Oreskovic and Mirko
Norac, were responsible for the mass abduction and killing of civilians.
RIJEKA, Jan 21 (Hina) - Croatia's Deputy Interior Minister in 1991,
Smiljan Reljic, on Tuesday corroborated the authenticity of an
audio tape saying two defendants in the Gospic Group war crimes
trial, Tihomir Oreskovic and Mirko Norac, were responsible for the
mass abduction and killing of civilians. #L#
After listening to the so-called Dasovic tape at Rijeka's county
court, Reljic said the tape undoubtedly contained the recording of
a conversation he, his deputy in 1991, Marijan Benko, and Ivan
Dasovic, then chief of police in Gospic, held in his office in late
1991.
On the tape, the voice, claimed to be that of Dasovic, says
Oreskovic and Norac are responsible for mass abductions and
killings of civilians.
Testifying last year, Dasovic was unable to confirm that the voice
on the tape was his. Forensic analysts were unable to confirm this
fact either, so presiding judge Ika Saric called Reljic to testify
again.
Reljic said today the tape was missing the start of the conversation
and the part when the interlocutors were considering what to do
about a report Dasovic had made about the situation in the central
town of Gospic. Shortly after the conversation was held, Reljic
gave the tape to a war crimes department set up with the Interior
Ministry at that time. He said he had not listened to nor edited it
afterwards.
Defendant Norac, when judge Saric would not allow him to ask Reljic
how the conversation was recorded, said Saric was "venting his
frustrations on me" and had "an arrogant attitude towards me and the
Homeland War".
Saric said the Supreme Court had confirmed the tape had been
recorded as an official statement, that it could be used as
evidence, and that Reljic had already testified about all the
circumstances in which the recording had been made and did not have
to do it again.
Today began the interrogation of the five defendants, two of whom --
Ivica Rozic and Milan Canic -- refused to testify.
Judge Saric read aloud a statement Rozic gave investigating judge
Sajonara Culina in September 2000, in which he claimed he had
neither committed nor ordered the crime the indictment charged him
with.
In that statement Rozic claimed he had helped three soldiers find
three Serbs from Karlobag who were then put on a truck and taken into
an unknown direction. Rozic said he did not know what had happened
to them.
He is charged with abducting and killing three Serbs from Karlobag
on Velebit mountain in November 1991 together with unknown
soldiers.
Canic stated in February 2001 that nobody during the war had spoken
to him about abductions of civilians and that he would have stopped
any killing had he known it was being prepared. He also said he had
not attended a meeting which allegedly prepared an execution at
Pazariste. Canic asserted he had only performed soldier's duties
during the war which concerned the defence of Gospic.
He entirely refuted the claims from the indictment which stated
that in the autumn of 1991, acting as deputy commander of the 118th
Brigade -- Norac's subordinate -- he took part in organising and
carrying out abductions and killings of civilians in the Gospic
area.
The trial resumes on Wednesday.
(hina) ha sb