ACQUITTAL IN KORANA BRIDGE CASE

KARLOVAC, Sept 18 (Hina)- The Karlovac County Court on Wednesday acquitted Mihajlo Hrastov of crimes charges of war against prisoners of war, that is, that, as a member of the Karlovac police, he had killed 13 Yugoslav soldiers on the bridge across Korana River on September 22, 1991. #L# The president of the panel of judges, Mladen Kosijer, said that the acquittal, as the panel concluded on the basis of evidence presented and testimonies by participants in the events on the bridge, that Mihajlo Hrastov acted in defence and was not guilty of any crime. Forensic tests denounced the credibility of a witness for the prosecution, Svetozar Sarac, one of two Yugoslav soldiers who survived the prevention of an attempt by the former Yugoslav People's Army to pass over the Korana bridge on September 21, 1991 and occupy Karlovac. He testified that Croatian soldiers had slaughtered one of his co- fighters, Vaso Bizic, on the Korana bridge. An autopsy and photographs taken by forensics expert Josip Skavic, proved that not one of the 13 enemy soldiers killed had been slaughtered or that any of the wounded had been killed by a pistol as the indictment noted. Karlovac was under enemy shell fire on September 21, 1991, and a general alert had been in force since 6 p.m. until half past midnight. Members of the National Guard and police fended off attacks by active and reserve units of the Yugoslav army on that town. The acquittal in the Korana bridge case in the county court was passed in 1993, after an appeal lodged by the county state prosecutor. The Supreme Court returned the matter to the court due to some unexplained circumstances. The re-trial began in 2000 and hearings were regularly attended by several hundred citizens supporting Hrastov. Deputy county prosecutor Grga Perisin said that following the sentencing today, there were elements to support an appeal, but he could not say whether the county prosecution would file one. (hina) sp sb lml