OSIJEK: TRIAL AGAINST MILOS LONCAR FOR WAR CRIMES CONTINUES

OSIJEK, May 27 (Hina) - The trial against Milos Loncar, 42, from Jagodnjak in Baranja, indicted of war crimes against civilians, resumed in Osijek on Monday with witness testimonies. #L# Loncar has been indicted for having ordered the shelling of Osijek and its suburbs as commander of the so-called Baranja territorial defence cannon platoon from September 1991 through May 1992. A large number of civilians were killed in the shelling, and damage to civilian and religious buildings are enormous. "I was mobilised in October 1991, and called to station in Darda. I was deployed to the cannon platoon where we shot from ZIS and ZB-1 cannons. The indictee Loncar was there too, but he was a soldier like I was," a witness for the defence, Andjelko Vidovic, from Secerana in Baranja said. Vidovic said Loncar was not a commander, but was in charge of weapons and military equipment maintenance, and gave out no orders. The trial continues on June 12. (hina) lml sb