WITNESS VLADIMIR CVIJA TESTIFIES IN SAKIC CASE

ZAGREB, May 13 (Hina) - Witness Vladimir Cvija, 79, testified at the Zagreb County Court on Thursday in the case against former commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp in Croatia during world war II, Dinko Sakic, who has been indicted of war crimes against civilians. Cvija said Sakic was commander of the camp in 1944, but did not know until when he was on this duty. He saw Sakic once or twice in the summer of 1944. "He was noticeable because he was immaculately dressed," Cvija stressed. Vladimir Cvija was arrested as a member of the Communist Party and taken to the Jasenovac camp at the end of May, 1942. He was transferred to the Stara Gradiska concentration camp in 1943, only to be returned to the Jasenovac camp the following year. In mid- January 1945, he was released as part of an exchange. Cvija underlined 1942 and 1943 as the most difficult part of his prison life, when frequent musters had taken place, separating prisoners to be killed. "Musters were most frequent during the offensive on Kozara," Cvija said. He recalled when Lieutenant Maricic killed a prisoner with a shot to the head in front of other prisoners, and an event when Hinko Dominik Picili beat a prisoner with a whip, after which he "smashed" his head with his boot. The situation in the camp 'pacified' somewhat at the end of 1943 and during 1944. "But even then there were individual executions," Cvija said. Asked by Sakic's defence attorney Ivan Kern, Sakic could not recall a concrete case of execution of prisoners in 1944. Describing the situation in the camp, Cvija stressed the barracks had been filled with prisoners. "We drank the filthy, muddy water from the well, and we ate turkey very seldom with hard corn bread. We were hungry and I early starved to death," he stressed. Cvijo added he was saved by packages of food he was getting from home. Speaking about hygienic conditions, Cvija said the prisoners had the opportunity to wash. "The conditions improved after the arrival of a commission of the Red Cross," he added. Asked about the camp sanatorium Cvija said "those who were taken there could be sure they would die in the sanatorium or would be taken to be executed". Recalling a case of accordion player Wollner, he said that, knowing he was going to be killed, Wollner began to run around the camp in desperation to avoid being executed, and drowned himself on purpose in a nearby lake". He described Zvonara as a barrack where they sent prisoners who were to be killed. He said he personally did not see this, but he heard executions were carried out in Granik. "I remember a night in 1943 when I heard cries for help and screams of prisoners from Granik," he said. In the second half of 1943 in the Stara Gradiska camp and 1944 in Jasenovac, prisoners had been allowed to "occupy themselves with various activities", that is, to organise musical and drama groups. Cvijo said he was not familiar with the command structure in the camp. He said he did not witness separations of the sick and weak from the barracks. There were no rules of conduct in the camp, he said. He recalled the Ustashi had erected gallows in the camp, but he said he never saw anyone being hanged. "I heard of such cases, but I hid and avoided musters where this happened," Cvija said. Cvija did not answer to numerous questions posed by the defence and president of the panel of judges, Drazen Tripalo, as he said he did not recall. "A lot of time has passed and I tried to forget everything and erase everything from my memory," he said. Another witness who was supposed to testify on Thursday, Zdenko Shwartz from Israel, informed the court he could not arrive to the trial, but was prepared to testify on May 24. The panel of judges will subsequently reach a decision on when he could testify. the trial continues on may 17. (hina) lml