ZAGREB ZAGREB, Oct 20 (Hina) - Ivan Tomljenovic, who on Monday took the witness stand in the trial of Ivica Rozic, denied part of the testimony given by another prosecution witness, Stipo Novakovic, who has been the first witness to
incriminate the defendant with crimes alleged in the Rozic indictment.
ZAGREB, Oct 20 (Hina) - Ivan Tomljenovic, who on Monday took the
witness stand in the trial of Ivica Rozic, denied part of the
testimony given by another prosecution witness, Stipo Novakovic,
who has been the first witness to incriminate the defendant with
crimes alleged in the Rozic indictment. #L#
Rozic, also known as White Wolf, is charged with planting 14 booby
traps on property of Serb returnees from 1996 to 1998, when five
persons were killed and several sustained serious injuries.
The witness Stipo Novakovic, a policeman, last week said that Rozic
had boasted, in a conversation with him and Tomljenovic, of having
planted the mines.
Tomljenovic, a retired policeman, on Monday refuted a part of
Novakovic's testimony, when he asserted that Rozic had told them
that a man named Osman had planted the booby traps. Osman
subsequently died in a Rijeka hospital, according to Tomljenovic.
Tomljenovic admitted that Rozic boasted of having planted
explosive devices, but that this statement proved to be a lie, and
that the accused had lied, as the witness said, because of his
serious mental problems.
After those differences in the two witnesses' statements, the panel
of judges called both Novakovic and Tomljenovic to give their
testimonies together before the court. At this encounter, both
witnesses stuck by their previous statements.
The next hearing is set for 5 November.
(hina) ms sb