ZAGREB, July 7 (Hina) - The trial of Dinko Sakic, war crimes suspect and commander of a Croatian World War Two concentration camp, resumed at the Zagreb County Court on Wednesday with the interrogation of Tibor Lovrencic, aged 81.
Lovrencic, an architect and former inmate who took part in the building of the Jasenovac camp, testified about the authenticity of three sketches of the camp contained in the court files. One sketch comes from the Croatian State Archives and was submitted by the Zagreb County state attorney, the second was submitted by the defendant, and the third by former inmate Jakov Finci. After viewing and comparing the sketches, Lovrencic said the one from the Croatian State Archives was the most authentic and corresponded to the actual position of objects in the camp. Lovrencic said Sakic's and Finci's sketches were full of errors, with the lake, brickworks, drawing room, and joiner's
ZAGREB, July 7 (Hina) - The trial of Dinko Sakic, war crimes suspect
and commander of a Croatian World War Two concentration camp,
resumed at the Zagreb County Court on Wednesday with the
interrogation of Tibor Lovrencic, aged 81.
Lovrencic, an architect and former inmate who took part in the
building of the Jasenovac camp, testified about the authenticity of
three sketches of the camp contained in the court files.
One sketch comes from the Croatian State Archives and was submitted
by the Zagreb County state attorney, the second was submitted by the
defendant, and the third by former inmate Jakov Finci.
After viewing and comparing the sketches, Lovrencic said the one
from the Croatian State Archives was the most authentic and
corresponded to the actual position of objects in the camp.
Lovrencic said Sakic's and Finci's sketches were full of errors,
with the lake, brickworks, drawing room, and joiner's workshop
wrongly placed. Unlike the defendant, Finci also wrongly placed the
"granik" and officers' quarters. The "granik", a construction
crane on the Sava river, was where according to many surviving
witnesses the Ustashi killed inmates.
At Sakic's attorneys' demand, Lovrencic described the position of
narrow gauges within the camp and details referring to specific
camp quarters. He was however unable to say where the inmates'
cemetery had been, and did not remember it ever existed. Lovrencic
also described the position of the "door-post with the hooks" where
the Mile Boskovic group was hanged.
Asked whether a soccer field was correctly placed in the Sakic
sketch, Lovrencic said he "know(s) nothing about soccer at
Jasenovac." "It is news to me," he said.
"Maybe the witness did not play soccer, but there was a soccer
field, otherwise where would it have been played," said the
defendant. During his defence testimony, he said there were several
inmates' soccer teams at the camp who often played among
themselves, sometimes even against an Ustashi team. Sakic claimed
matches were sometimes played even outside the camp.
County state attorney Radovan Santek inquired whether the witness
could see the "granik" from the attic of the drawing room and the
joiner's workshop, where for a time he used to sleep.
Lovrencic said the attics had no windows, but added that given the
building's height, the "granik" could be seen by lifting a roof
tile. He did not remember any of the inmates doing this, out of
fear.
The defendant however claimed that would not have been possible,
because the "granik" was below an embankment and other buildings
were between it and the joiner's workshop.
Asked by panel of judges president Drazen Tripalo about the
position of the showers and the bathrooms, Lovrencic said there
were none during the time he was imprisoned at the camp.
Stressing he had forgotten a lot, the witness was unable to describe
many details asked of him.
Deputy county state attorney Janjko Grlic proposed that Lovrencic
be shown photographs taken at the camp which are contained in the
files. Commenting on each, the witness said the one of a large group
of Ustashi senior and junior officers was not taken at the camp.
Lovrencic first testified in the Sakic trial in late March, as the
seventh witness for the prosecution.
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