THREE WITNESSES FROM CROATIA TO TESTIFY IN SAKIC TRIAL NEXT WEEK

ZAGREB, May 14 (Hina) - The trial of Dinko Sakic, a commander of the Ustashi-run concentration camp in Jasenovac, will resume next week, on May 17, when witnesses Adolf Friedrich, Marko Persen and Mara Cvetko are to appear before the court, Zagreb County Court vice president and spokesman Damir Kos told reporters in Zagreb on Friday. Kos said the panel of judges had approved a request by witness Zdenko Schwartz from Israel to be heard on May 24. Schwartz was to testify before the Zagreb County Court on May 13. Kos said the court could not do anything to make two witnesses from Yugoslavia, Eduard Sajer and Jovan Stjepanovic, and a witness from Israel, Ervin Rosenberg, testify in the trial, because they obviously did not want to answer to the court summons. So far, 22 of the 36 suggested witnesses have testified in the Sakic case. Since the three above-mentioned witnesses do not want to testify, there are ten witnesses left to testify. However, some of them have notified the court and sent medical documentation proving that their health is poor and that they could not testify, Kos said, refusing to say who those witnesses were. After former Jasenovac prisoners complete their testimonies, the panel of judges will hear another six historians. Asked whether it was true that on several occasions individuals from the audience greeted Sakic by raising their right arm, Kos said he had not noticed such behaviour. "On one occasion I saw an elderly gentleman wave to Sakic and Sakic waved back. I did not interpret it as a Nazi form of greeting", Kos added, adding he would caution court police officers so that such behaviour could be prevented. (hina) rml