ZAGREB, Sept 20 - By a decision of the Panel of Judges of the Zagreb County Court that the only defence witness, Ante Mestrovic, will not be questioned, the presentation of evidence ended on Monday in the trial against Dinko Sakic, a
former commander of Jasenovac Camp.
ZAGREB, Sept 20 - By a decision of the Panel of Judges of the Zagreb
County Court that the only defence witness, Ante Mestrovic, will
not be questioned, the presentation of evidence ended on Monday in
the trial against Dinko Sakic, a former commander of Jasenovac
Camp.#L#
In the past six months the Panel of Judges heard over 30 witnesses,
former inmates, several experts and examined the documentation
relating to the defendant Sakic.
The trial is to resume on Tuesday when the County State Attorney's
Office will begin its closing speech.
After they conferred briefly, the Panel of Judges decided not to
call again the defence witness Mestrovic from Rama (Bosnia-
Herzegovina), who failed to appear before the court after he had
been summonsed twice.
The Panel maintained that the insistence of the defence on hearing
that former member of Ustashi Youth, who had been in Jasenovac camp
during 1943 and 1944 would unnecessarily prolong the proceedings.
Mestrovic notified the Court by letter that he had received a
summons to appear at the main hearing but he could not testify due to
his illness.
During Monday's hearing, the County State Attorney's Office again
changed the text of the indictment in order to give more precise
terms when Sakic commended the camp. According to this change,
Sakic was the commander of the camp from 1 May to 28 October 1944 and
not from April to November that year, as it had been put previously
in the indictment.
Responding to this alteration, Sakic said it was incorrect. "I was
the administrator of the labour camp Jasenovac from 1 July to 1
October 1944," the defendant asserted adding that he completely
abode by his defence and that he did not want to answer anyone's
questions. "All that I have to say, I will say in my closing speech,"
Sakic stressed.
The head of the Panel of Judges, Drazen Tripalo, then read out a
statement forwarded from the Justice Ministry which shows that
Sakic has had no criminal record to date.
Deputy County State Attorney, Janko Grlic, asked that closing
speeches may commence on Tuesday in view of health problems of
County State Attorney Radoslav Santek and technical difficulties.
Judge Tripalo accepted the request.
(hina) ms