TWO WITNESSES TESTIFY IN TRIAL OF "SODOLOVCI GROUP"

OSIJEK, March 1 (Hina) - New witnesses in the trial of the so-called "Sodolovci group" testified before the Osijek County Court on Monday. Members of the group - Pero Klickovic, Goran Vusurovic, Vujo Halavanja, Zeljko Keskenovic and Marinko Stankovic - are charged with having participated in cannon attacks between July 1991 and May 1992, thus committing a war crime against civilians. Witness Mato Kuna, who at the time was employed with the Osijek Firefighting Centre, said that while travelling between Koritna and Sodolovci on August 1991, he had been stopped by a group of armed men, some of whom were wearing camouflage uniforms with the insignia of the so-called "Krajina" region. One of the men from the group was Keskenovic. The witness said he had been robbed, interrogated and maltreated in Sodolovci, and afterwards in Markusica. Kuna said that during the interrogation in Sodolovci, the defendant Keskenovic had put a knife under his throat trying to find out who had set afire his sawmill. Kuna further said that prior to an action which Croatian police launched in Sodolovci in early July, with the aim of disarming some of the Sodolovci residents, he had used to see people armed with rifles and machine-guns, but he did not know whether a "defence headquarters" or some similar body of civil authority had been set up in the village. Keskenovic denied Kuna's claims adding that he had not been in the group Kuna was speaking about nor had he carried a knife or threatened him during their meeting in Sodolovci. Keskenovic's attorney Jovan Grubesic also objected to the part of Kuna's testimony which charged Keskenovic, adding that it was not true. Witness Ruza Matic (aged 74), who lived in Sodolovci throughout the occupation of the village, said no one had harassed or threatened her. She added that Keskenovic once had called a doctor while she was seriously ill. (hina) rml