SPLIT, June 11 (Hina) - Zlatko Jelic, a former military policeman, took the stand in the afternoon part of Tuesday's trial against eight former military police members indicted of war crimes at Lora military prison in 1992.
SPLIT, June 11 (Hina) - Zlatko Jelic, a former military policeman,
took the stand in the afternoon part of Tuesday's trial against
eight former military police members indicted of war crimes at Lora
military prison in 1992. #L#
Jelic said he had joined the military police on February 15, 1992,
and had been deployed at the Split military hospital command. He
said he did not remember exactly when he had been transferred to
Lora along with others, but that it was in the same year. He
confirmed that he had transported prisoners from Ploce to Lora, but
that he had not had access to the prison, only to the gates.
Asked whether he knew to whom he had handed the prisoners, Jelic
said he did not.
Deputy county state prosecutor Michelle Squiccimaro asked him
whether he heard of stories of abuse in the prison, and he said he
did, but that was only hearsay.
The defence attorneys objected to further questioning on the basis
of stories which "have no source". The judge, however, asked the
witness if he remembered the stories. Jelic said he did not.
Since another witness who had been summoned failed to appear in
court, the judge scheduled the trial for Wednesday morning.
The trial against eight former members of the 72nd battalion of the
military police, of whom one is at large, began on Monday. The
indictment, issued this March, accuses them of crimes against
humanity and international law of war, that is, the abuse of
prisoners of war and civilians, as well as the murder of Nenad
Knezevic and Gojko Bulovic. The seven indictees present at the
trial pleaded not guilty on all counts of the indictment on Monday.
(hina) lml