MURDER SUSPECT SINDICIC'S TRIAL POSTPONED FOR TUESDAY

ZAGREB, Nov 8 (Hina) - The beginning of murder suspect Vinko Sindicic's trial at the Zagreb County Court was postponed on Monday at a request by the defence for the exemption of prosecution representative Deputy County State Attorney Ivica Ovcar on suspicion of his impartiality. A hearing was scheduled for Tuesday when County State Attorney Radovan Santek should rule on the exemption request. The defence believes Ovcar was biased in compiling the indictment against Sindicic because, according to the defence, he "omitted and failed to analyse" facts which go to the defendant's favour. Prior to the defence request, Judge Damir Kos asked the defendant his occupation, to which he responded by saying he had been a caterer whose "catering facility in Rijeka was stolen by some people from the former Communist system." Sindicic said he was without property and a degree-exam candidate at the Faculty of Economy in Rijeka Foreign Languages Department. Asked if he had been prosecuted, the defendant said he had been given a 15-year sentence in Scotland in 1988 for the attempted murder of Croatian political emigrant Nikola Stedul. He added the Municipal Court in Rijeka in 1991 sentenced him to four months in prison in his absence, but did not specify on what charges. Sindicic has been charged for the shooting murder of Bruno Busic in Paris on 16 October 1978 at an order and in the organisation of a former Yugoslav secret service. During investigation, Sindicic denied the charges. The indictment suggests the hearing of some 30 witnesses and the reading of material evidence, including the file of the Paris Police Prefecture which closed the case in 1982 after an unsuccessful investigation. According to the old Penal Law, under which the proceedings are held, Sindicic could receive a maximum 15-year-imprisonment for the crime he is charged with. (hina) ha mm