TRIAL OF PREVIOUSLY ACQUITTED WAR-TIME SUSPECT RESUMES

KARLOVAC, March 20 (Hina) - The main hearing in the trial of a former member of the Karlovac Police Department special police resumed at the Karlovac County Court on Tuesday after being adjourned in May last year. The defendant Mihajlo Hrastov is accused of crimes against humanity and the international law, namely of acting contrary to a Hague convention on the treatment of prisoners of war. He is charged with the 21 September 1991 shooting in Rakovac of 15 reservists of the JNA, ex-Yugoslavia's federal army, of whom 13 were shot dead. The Karlovac County Court acquitted Hrastov in 1992, but the ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1994. One of the witnesses Judge Jasminka Jerinic-Musnjak examined today was Svetozar Sarac, a JNA reservist who survived the event. He arrived from the Yugoslav city of Pancevo. Talking about what he saw on 21 September 1991, the witness said he did not see the suspect, Hrastov, at any one moment. The Karlovac County Court had summoned another three witnesses, also JNA reservists, but they failed to turn up. It has been suggested they be examined and their testimonies have been scheduled for September. On 21 September 1991, the special police unit Hrastov belonged to was supposed to escort a group of prisoners of war to the Karlovac County Court investigation department. At the time, Karlovac, a town some 50km south-west of Zagreb, was the target of fierce Serb shelling. Serb paramilitary units and JNA reservists threatened entering the town, which was also full of snipers shooting at civilians. Following orders, Hrastov's unit was to go to Korana Bridge to take over the JNA reservists whose surrender had already been agreed on. (hina) ha sb