RIJEKA: TRIAL AGAINST "GOSPIC GROUP" CONTINUES

RIJEKA, April 2 (Hina) - The head of the Operational Centre of the Constitutional Order Protection Service (SZUP) in Gospic in 1991, Nikica Pavicic, testified before the Rijeka County Court in the trial of so-called Gospic Group on Tuesday. #L# Pavicic confirmed that he signed correspondence from the Gospic SZUP forwarded to the Zagreb SZUP Centre towards the end of 1991, in which Tihomir Oreskovic and Mirko Norac were accused of taking away and liquidating several hundred Serbs from Gospic. Pavicic, however, said that he did not write that correspondence nor was he aware of its contents. The main hearing in the trial of Tihomir Oreskovic, Ivica Rozic, Stjepan Grandic, Mirko Norac and Milan Canic, accused of war crimes against civilians in the Gospic area in October 1991, began on January 28 this year following several postponements. To date, 41 witnesses from a list of 102 have been questioned. (hina) sb sp