MAIN HEARING AGAINST MISANOVIC HELD I VUKOVAR

VUKOVAR, March 24 (Hina) - The main hearing in the trial against Tihomir Misanovic (born in 1947), indicted of two counts of murder and one attempted murder, took place in the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar on Wednesday. State Attorney Biserka Tremeski asked a 20-year prison sentence for Misanovic. The indictment states Misanovic had in October 1991, along with Rajko Dujakovic and an unidentified person known under the name of Sapcanin, committed the murders of Croats Djuro Rogic and Vladimir Turba, and attempted to murder Mato Kusic on the Ovcara farm near Vukovar. Mato Kusic, the prosecution's key witness, said in court he had been arrested at the Jakobovac farm, near Vukovar, where he worked, by persons dressed in the former Yugoslav People's Army uniforms at the beginning of October 1991. He was taken to a room where there were Tihomir Misanovic, Rajko Dujakovic and Sapcanin in uniforms. After he had been beaten, the next day he was collected by Misanovic, Dujakovic and Sapcanin, put into a truck and taken to the Ovcara farm. There he was placed into a tractor wagon in which were Vladimir Turba and Djuro Rogic. They started towards the town of Negoslavci. On a section on the road, Misanovic shouted "Jump out, Ustashi", Kusic said. Rogic tried to jump out, but Misanovic shot him in the back. After Turba jumped out, Misanovic shot him too, Kusic said. Kusic said he had managed to jump out and hide in the corn field from where he arrived in Negoslavci., There he was apprehended and transported into a concentration camp in Yugoslavia. Bosiljka Turba, the wife of Vladimir Turba, also testified in the trial, as well as other witnesses and forensic scientists. Misanovic pleaded not guilty, but agreed with statements that he was present in the mentioned locations as the mentioned time and that he had driven Vladimir Turba and Mato Kusic to Negoslavci. Misanovic said he had told them at one moment to jump out of the truck, thinking they would escape and save their lives. As they jumped out, an unidentified person began shooting at them from a machine gun. As the tractor stopped, Misanovic went outside and saw Turba dead and Kusic alive, but told Sapcanin he was not, so as to save Kusic. Following the four-hour hearing, judge Ante Zeljko called an adjournment and announced a reconstruction of events for March 30. He also ordered an exhumation of the victims' bodies to establish from which weapon they had been killed. Misanovic was arrested on August 7, 1998 and has since been in the detention section of the Osijek County Court. (hina) lml