RIJEKA, March 12 (Hina) - Stjepan Grandic, accused of war crimes against civilians in the Perusic region in autumn 1991, presented his defence at the trial of the so-called "Gospic group" at the Rijeka County Court on Wednesday.
Grandic rejected allegations from the indictment and refused to answer questions.
RIJEKA, March 12 (Hina) - Stjepan Grandic, accused of war crimes
against civilians in the Perusic region in autumn 1991, presented
his defence at the trial of the so-called "Gospic group" at the
Rijeka County Court on Wednesday. Grandic rejected allegations
from the indictment and refused to answer questions. #L#
Speaking before the trial chamber, presided by judge Ika Saric,
Grandic said that a former military policeman Milan Karic Miki, who
had testified as a witness in the trial, was the one who should
answer for the charges.
Grandic, who was the commander of the 118th battalion of the Gospic
brigade in 1991, said that Milan Karic had organised the transport
of abducted civilians to Lipova Glavica, where they were killed.
Karic had chosen the soldiers who secured the location at Lipova
Glavica and led masked soldiers and military police who brought
civilians to the Perusic barracks from their homes.
The defendant denied that he had imprisoned any civilians, stating
that had been ordered to prepare the premises at Perusic to
accommodate civilians who were to be exchanged and to organise
their transport to the place of exchange. However, he did not state
who issued those orders.
He added that he had never taken part in or ordered the abduction of
civilians from their homes and that in the moment when Milan Karic
ordered the soldiers to shoot at the civilians at Lipova Glavica, he
fell to the ground after the first shot and could not see who was
shooting.
He said that he was not ashamed of anything he had done in the
Homeland War and that he would do the same in the same
circumstances.
Following Grandic's statement, judge Saric read his statement
given during investigative proceedings, in which he claimed that
Mirko Norac had ordered him to prepare rooms for detained
civilians, saying that those were Tihomir Oreskovic's orders, and
that the civilians would be executed. In his statement Grandic
noted that everyone in Gospic knew that Oreskovic had ordered the
abduction of civilians from their homes and that Oreskovic had said
that all Serbs in Gospic should be killed.
In his second statement to the investigating judge, Grandic denied
his claims from the first statement, saying that he had been under
the influence of sedatives at the time.
Grandic's statement was read out at the end of the presentation of
defence, and the defence and prosecution are now expected to make
summations.
Custody for Oreskovic and Ivica Rozic expires in September,
Grandic's in November and Norac's in February next year. Indictee
Milan Canic is currently on bail.
The trial is to continue on Thursday.
(hina) sp rml sb