BACKUP WITNESSES TESTIFY IN LORA CASE INSTEAD OF YUGOSLAV

SPLIT, June 19 (Hina) - The second group of witnesses from Yugoslavia which should have taken the witness stand at the Split county court in the Lora military prison trial against eight military police officers indicted for the abuse of prisoners and killing two, failed to arrive, so judge Slavko Lozina called backup witnesses. #L# The reason for their not coming was not officially explained, nor was it for the group which was to testify on Monday. The first witness to take the stand today was dr. Ante Petricevic, the head of the Split hospital surgery ward, to which the killed Nenad Knezevic was taken in 1992. Petricevic, who was not the doctor on duty at the time, said that documents existed about Knezevic's treatment, which he handed over to the court during the investigation. He said that the medical documents did not contain the source of Knezevic's injury. The witness said that he had no knowledge about the second killed person, Gojko Bulovic, until his cousin Bozo Bulovic brought him to the hospital. No hospital documents nor an admittance sheet existed on Bulovic, so he must have been brought directly to pathology, the doctor said. There is also no documentation about some other witnesses who were hospitalised as prisoners of Lora, he said. Indictee Emilijo Bungur objected to Monday's statement by Prime Minister Ivica Racan that he was not satisfied with the Lora trial. The other indictees agreed. These words "are an invitation to a public lynch and evidence on pressures on the court which have been going on for nine months, since our arrest," Bungur said. Bungur's statement was followed by an applause from the spectators. Judge Slavko Lozina warned he would empty the courtroom if this happened again. (hina) lml