RIJEKA: INJURED PARTIES' REPS, ATTORNEYS GIVE CLOSING STATEMENTS

RIJEKA, March 17 (Hina) - In the continuation of the trial of the so- called Gospic Group at the Rijeka County Court, representatives of injured parties, i.e. the families of killed civilians, and the defence attorneys of indictees Stjepan Grandic and Ivica Rozic on Monday made their closing statements. #L# Attorney Ljubisa Drageljevic, representing the families of 18 civilians killed in the Gospic area in the autumn of 1991, said the killed civilians had been loyal to the Croatian state, they had not fought against Croatia, and had not committed a single act to bear responsibility for the death of civilians or members of the Croatian army. They also did not assist the enemy, he said. Drageljevic said that the four indictees were not the only ones responsible for the committed war crimes. Members of the then government and all subordinated officials had known of the crimes immediately after they had been committed as well as that they had been planned, organised and carried out under orders. An attorney representing eight families of killed civilians, Slobodan Budak, said the indictees had become "the victims of a perfidious political act" and that the committed crimes could not have been their idea. Budak asked why this case had not been processed nine years ago when everybody knew about it, starting with the then President, Franjo Tudjman, and the entire state leadership. He also mentioned the then State Prosecutor, Zeljko Olujic, and Justice Minister Bosiljko Misetic, who now act as defence attorneys of the chief indictee, Tihomir Oreskovic. Budak said "the Croatian state is definitely responsible" for the act, since it could have been committed only with the help of the authorities and the army. The attorney of defendant Stjepan Grandic, Milenko Skrlec, said Grandic had not lead masked persons to the liquidation of civilians at Lipova Glavica on October 18, 1991, nor had he ordered that the civilians be shot at, for which was indicted. Skrlec asked for an acquittal for Grandic. Speaking about the entire process, he said that "one does not win a war by abiding by the Geneva conventions" because in war "many things are of greater importance than a Geneva convention" and only those who had started the war could be held responsible. "You must understand that these are 'our guys' and had they not been there, who knows if we would have been here," he told the trial chamber. Mirko Ruzic, the attorney of Ivica Rozic, a member of the 118th Gospic Brigade's reconnaissance-sabotage platoon, also requested acquittal for his client, stating that the prosecution had failed to establish that Rozic had taken part in the abduction of three Serbs from Karlobag and their killing. The trial continues tomorrow with the closing statements of Tihomir Oreskovic's and Mirko Norac's attorneys. (hina) lml sb