SPLIT: WAR CRIMES TRIAL IN "LORA" CASE RESUMES

SPLIT, June 12 (Hina) - The trial in the so-called Lora case, involving eight former Croatian military police officers accused of war crimes and the murder of Nenad Knezevic and Gojko Bulovic in 1992, continued at the Split County Court on Wednesday. The court today heard the testimonies of Zlatko Sulejmanovic, a former member of the brigade the indicted policemen belonged to and prison guard at Split's military port Lora, and Ivica Livaja, former commander of the 72nd military police brigade's crime section. #L# Asked by judge Slavko Lozina if he could confirm his statement given during investigative proceedings, when he directly implicated indictees Miljenko Bajic, Josip Bikic, and Davor Banic, Sulejmanovic said he could not remember what he had said at the time because he had given the statement "under pressure and under the influence of medicines, following a 24-hour police interrogation". He also said that he did not remember the events of June 13, 1992. Judge Lozina then ordered that Sulejmanovic's statement be read out. According to the statement, Sulejmanovic said that on June 13, 1992 he had heard that some persons had tried to escape from prison. He also heard that Knezevic used a judo grip to knock the guard down in an attempt to escape, and that he was shot at. The witness remembered having seen a number of military police officers on the prison premises and thought they arrived there because of Knezevic's escape attempt. He also saw Bajic, Bikic and Banic enter the prison and subsequently heard shouts and moaning. Sulejmanovic further said that when he entered the prison some 15 minutes later, he saw on the floor the lifeless body of Gojko Bulovic, whom he carried outside along with other prisoners and tried to bring to consciousness, but was unable to. "I do not know by whom I was ordered to keep silent about that," Sulejmanovic said, among other things, in the statement. Asked today if he stuck to this statement, Sulejmanovic answered in the negative, repeating that he did not remember what he had said at the time. Deputy County Prosecutor Michelle Squiccimaro submitted to the court a report Sulejmanovic's father filed with the police, saying that in October last year some people threatened to kill his son and his wife and child if he testified in the trial. The defence and court will voice their stand on the report tomorrow. Another witness, Ivica Livaja, confirmed most claims he made in a statement given during the investigative proceedings. He said that on June 13, 1992 he had seen indictee Tonci Vrkic who told him that a prisoner had tried to escape and that he had to shoot at him. The witness also remembered that the names mentioned in connection with the incident were Knezevic's and Bulovic's. Asked by the prosecution if he had heard about prisoners being abused at Lora, he said he had not until he read about it in the "Slobodna Dalmacija" daily. "I was never present during any torturing, nor can I confirm that anyone abused the prisoners," Livaja said. He said that information about crimes at Lora was spread by people who were against Croatia and the Croatian army and who wanted to depict the Croatian army as a criminal organisation which tortured Serbs. Asked by the prosecution about his relationship with Mario Barisic, another witness who accused his colleagues of abusing the prisoners, Livaja said that Barisic had "cracked" and that the events he claimed had taken place at Lora were figments of his imagination. The trial resumes on Thursday with the testimony of another six witnesses. (hina) rml sb