SPLIT, Sept 19 (Hina) - A trial for war crimes committed in 1992 in the Split Lora Military Jail continued on Thursday without the presence of two defendants, Josip Bikic and Miljenko Bajic who have been fugitive since August and so
the trial continued in their absence.
SPLIT, Sept 19 (Hina) - A trial for war crimes committed in 1992 in
the Split Lora Military Jail continued on Thursday without the
presence of two defendants, Josip Bikic and Miljenko Bajic who have
been fugitive since August and so the trial continued in their
absence. #L#
The presiding judge, Slavko Lozina, passed a decision that the
trial should continue in the absence of the two, following a
proposal by the prosecution lawyer, Michell Squiccimar.
Only five of the eight defendants are in attendance at the trial
while the first accused, Tomislav Dujic - a former commander of the
Lora military-remand centre - has been on the run since the
beginning of the trial.
The remaining defendants Tonci Vrkic, Miljenko Bajic, Josip Bikic,
Davor Banic, Emilijo Bungur, Ante Gudic and Andelko Botic were
released from custody mid July when the trial was adjourned for the
summer break however, the Supreme Court abolished this decision
following an appeal by the County Prosecution.
Five defendants were then taken back into custody, while Bikic and
Bajic have been inaccessible to the police and a warrant has been
issued for their arrest.
As five witnesses from Serbia are scheduled to appear on Monday,
September 23, as the Justice Ministry advised in a letter, on
Thursday two reserve witnesses from Croatia took the stand.
Josip Topic, a retired member of the 72nd battalion of the Military
Police, did not hear and has no knowledge of any abuse taking place
in Lora. At the time in question, from March to September 1992 he had
not been to the Lora military-investigations base while from June
23 he was on the southern front. Before being deployed to the
southern front, he worked in the Operations Centre of the military
police where he received reports. He did not hear about an attempted
escape by two Serb prisoners, Nenad Bulovic and Gojko Knezevic on
June 13, and about their injuries even though due to the nature of
his work, he should have been informed.
Boris Roscic, who too is a retired member of that battalion, found
out all he knew about the case from the media. He has no other
knowledge of these events. He knows the defendants, some from
childhood.
He stated that in September 1991 he was captured in Vojnic and there
he was tortured by Chetniks and taken to be slaughtered seven times.
Fortunately, he escaped death, he said, because he was exchanged
but even to this day he feels the consequences of these events and
often sees his torturers in the people that surround him.
Roscic had been to Lora on several occasions in 1992 but did not see
any abuse. He recorded data from the prisoners who wore khaki
uniforms but this was in his office that was located in Lora but
outside the circle of the military-investigations centre. He saw
these people in the jail yard but he did not see anything unusual
about them nor any traces of abuse.
Asked who else questioned prisoners, Roscic replied that he thought
that these were people from the crimes squad of the military police
and that the guards did not take part in these questionings.
He had heard about the attempted escape by Bulovic and Knezevic but
he heard about this while he was attending a training course in
Zagreb.
The trial will continue on Friday with the examination of another
witness, Luka Orsulic.
(hina) sp ms