REACTIONS TO VERDICTS IN TRIAL OF "GOSPIC GROUP" (1)

GOSPIC, March 24 (Hina) - Verdicts passed by the Rijeka County Court against Tihomir Oreskovic, Mirko Norac and Stjepan Grandic Monday were greeted with bitterness by members of the Lika-Senj County's association for the protection of Homeland War values, said the association's president, Milan Maras. #L# He added that the association had been following the trial "of Gospic heroes of the Homeland War" from its start, "and has been financing their defence team". Not wishing to comment on the court decision "which shocked" him, Gospic mayor Milan Kolic said he expected that after the appeals procedure the Supreme Court would reduce or cancel their sentences. It was with great regret that the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) received the news about the verdict against Mirko Norac and the others from the so-called Gospic Group, but the party expects that the final judgement would be acquittal, HDZ president Ivo Sanader said at a news conference in Zagreb. Sanader added that Norac had immeasurable merits in defending and liberating Croatia from the Greater Serbian aggression, stressing that Gospic would have ended up like Vukovar had there been no Norac and other Croatian veterans. "The courage of such people as General Mirko Norac was a precondition for Croatia's freedom. Today, when a free democratic world is fighting against international terrorism, the role of our veterans in the defence of Croatia is even more important," said Sanader. He added that over the past three years his party had been warning and most harshly denouncing the political climate which the incumbent government was spreading across Croatia and in which the Homeland War and its veterans were being humiliated and criminalised. "As hard as this may be on everybody, we urge calmness and dignity, which General Norac showed through the entire trial," Sanader said. (hina) lml sb