SIBENIK, March 20 (Hina) - The county court in the southern Croatian city of Sibenik on Tuesday started a re-trial of six former Croatian Army (HV) members accused of murdering for gain 16 Serb civilians in Gosici and Varivode (in the
Sibenik hinterland) in August and September 1995. Nikola Rasic and Zlatko Ladovic are accused of murdering seven, mostly elderly Serb civilians in Gosici on August 27, 1995 and another nine elderly civilians in Varivode in September 1995. Ivica Petric and Zlatko Ladovic are accused of killing seven civilians in Gosici, while Ivo Jakovljevic and Nediljko Milic are charged with murdering nine civilians in Varivode. All indictees pleaded not guilty. The trial is repeated because the Supreme Court overruled a previous ruling by the Zadar County Court which five years ago acquitted the accused, judging that the indictment had not been specific enough regarding the individual acts of each
SIBENIK, March 20 (Hina) - The county court in the southern Croatian
city of Sibenik on Tuesday started a re-trial of six former Croatian
Army (HV) members accused of murdering for gain 16 Serb civilians in
Gosici and Varivode (in the Sibenik hinterland) in August and
September 1995.
Nikola Rasic and Zlatko Ladovic are accused of murdering seven,
mostly elderly Serb civilians in Gosici on August 27, 1995 and
another nine elderly civilians in Varivode in September 1995.
Ivica Petric and Zlatko Ladovic are accused of killing seven
civilians in Gosici, while Ivo Jakovljevic and Nediljko Milic are
charged with murdering nine civilians in Varivode. All indictees
pleaded not guilty.
The trial is repeated because the Supreme Court overruled a
previous ruling by the Zadar County Court which five years ago
acquitted the accused, judging that the indictment had not been
specific enough regarding the individual acts of each indictee.
Zeljko Zganjer, State Prosecutor for Sibenik County, says in the
indictment that testimonies by witnesses and indictees in both the
Gosici and Varivode crimes pointed to the fact that the six
indictees committed the criminal acts they were suspected of, that
they visited the villages in order to plunder the property of local
residents and that they shot the civilians dead.
The description of the villages and events initially given by the
indictees match, Zganjer says, the actual situation. According to
the indictment, some of the indictees had given a detailed account
of the course of events, from the moment they agreed to visit the
villages to steal tools, household appliances and cattle, to the
actual events while they were in Gosici and Varivode. They also
admitted that fire had been opened at houses and that some of them,
upon the return, admitted that they had executed several villagers.
In subsequent statements they gave at their own request, however,
they denied their initial statements, claiming they had given them
due to police pressure and fear.
Zganjer judges that the initial testimonies are authentic and that
the subsequent denial cannot be admitted.
The court today heard the testimony of witness Dusan Borak who
visited Gosici with his wife and brother the day before the crimes
were committed. Borak saw five young men dressed in HV camouflage
uniforms who arrived in a cargo vehicle and set fire to the house of
the village forester's son. The witness said he could not identify
any of the indictees. The witness's brother was to testify today as
well but failed to show up.
The trial is monitored by representatives of the Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Croatian Legal
Centre and the Croatian Helsinki Committee.
(hina) rml