VICTIMS OF VARIVODE MASSACRE BURIED

VARIVODE, Dec 14 (Hina) - The remains of eight elderly Serbs from the village of Varivode near Knin, killed in August 1995, were buried on Saturday at the local cemetery in the presence of relatives, villagers and the residents of neighbouring villages. #L# A religious ceremony was conducted by Orthodox priest Ilija Karajovic. The bodies of the victims were exhumed at a Knin cemetery in spring this year by investigators with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, after which they were transferred to Zagreb for autopsy and identification. The ninth victim, Mile Pokrajac, was not buried today because his relatives live abroad and could not organise his burial. All the victims were killed from firearms inside their houses or in their front-yards. It is still not known who committed the crime, for which six former Croatian soldiers were put on trial twice. The trials were conducted at the Sibenik and Zadar county courts and the defendants were acquitted on both occasions. The first verdict was quashed by the Supreme Court which requested that the indictment be individualised, so the six were put on trial for the second time at the Sibenik County Court, which in summer this year acquitted them. (hina) rml