RIJEKA, Nov 19 (Hina) - Several defence witnesses took the stand on Tuesday at the main hearing of the trial against the so-called Gospic group at Rijeka County Court, before the council of judges presided by Judge Ika Saric. The
witnesses stated that they had no knowledge of any abductions or murder of Serb civilians.
RIJEKA, Nov 19 (Hina) - Several defence witnesses took the stand on
Tuesday at the main hearing of the trial against the so-called
Gospic group at Rijeka County Court, before the council of judges
presided by Judge Ika Saric. The witnesses stated that they had no
knowledge of any abductions or murder of Serb civilians. #L#
A Croatian officer, Ante Dosen, a witness for the defendant Mirko
Norac, spoke about defence methods and structure of army units in
the Gospic region from the beginning of the war. Dosen said that as
far as he knew, Mirko Norac did not give any orders that would be
contrary to civilisation standards or laws of war.
He said he heard about the abduction of civilians from Gospic only
during the course of the trial and earlier from the media.
Another witness, Josip Busljeta, for whom some witnesses said that
he had also been involved in the abduction of civilians and their
murder, said he did not know anything about the abductions. He added
that he was only in the Croatian army less than a month in the
beginning of the war and later was not included in any military
units. He said the reason for this was that he was incapable of
serving the army because of 'flatfoot'.
The trial will continue on Wednesday with testimonies by another
four witnesses.
(hina) sp sb