ZAGREB COUNTY STATE ATT. RECEIVES NEW EVIDENCE AGAINST NADA SAKIC

ZAGREB, Mar 10 (Hina) - The Zagreb County State Attorney's Office on Wednesday received new evidence against Nada Sakic submitted by the head of the Jerusalem-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Efraim Zuroff. The new evidence consists of four statements by witnesses from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, of whom one accuses Sakic, and the statement by one witness from the Bosnian Serb entity, Zagreb County State Attorney Radovan Santek told reporters. Santek said that in case the accusations made by the Yugoslav witness proved to indeed refer to Nada Sakic, and if the authenticity of his statement was confirmed, it would suffice to reopen the case against Sakic. Santek however added that a "significant path has to be traversed" to arrive to that point. The State Attorney's Office abandoned the criminal persecution of Nada Sakic early in February due to insufficient evidence against her. She was suspected of war crimes against civilians committed while working in a Croatian concentration camp during World War II. If the Zagreb County State Attorney evaluates the new evidence is sufficient to reopen the case, a request to that effect will be forwarded to the County Court, Santek said. He emphasised that "nobody had influenced" the decision to discontinue the further criminal persecution of Nada Sakic. "Not one of 26 witnesses questioned (in pre-trial) accused her of the crime she was charged with," Santek said, adding the decision to release her had been "certain." During pre-trial investigations it was determined that Nada Sakic did not have any special powers in the concentration camp, but had been a "16-year-old guard," Santek said. He also spoke about the Dinko Sakic case. Accused of war crimes against humanity, Sakic was to undergo trial in Zagreb last week, but the opening was postponed due to his poor health. Commenting on the Croatian President's consent to have international doctors examine the defendant's condition, Santek said a decision on the matter lay only with the panel of judges. Santek said he personally believed "it is out of the question" and that it would not happen. It is necessary to "ascertain whether it has been a matter of faked illness intended to stall the proceedings," Santek said, but added the State Attorney's Office had no reason to think so. (hina) ha mm