WITNESSES SAY DOKMANOVIC TOOK PART IN THE PERSECUTION OF CROATS

( Editorial: --> 6143 ) THE HAGUE, 21 Jan (Hina) - The trial of the former Mayor of Vukovar, Slavko Dokmanovic, which the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) accuses of planning, inciting and executing the mass killing of 200 people in 1991 near Vukovar, continued on Wednesday with the hearing of two witnesses. Borislav Magovac and Marinko Vladic from Ilok witnessed that Dokmanovic took part in the persecution of the Croatian population in that town. They described the situation in Ilok when it was cut off from the Vukovar Municipality in the summer of 1991 and surrounded by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). Borislav Magovac, a high school teacher, was a member of a commission established for negotiations with representatives of the neighbouring counties Sid and Backa Palanka in Serbia and representatives of the JNA. "Representatives of the civil authorities from Sid and Backa Palanka and JNA representatives wanted us to hand over weapons which we didn't have and to surrender the town," said Magovac. The situation in Ilok became unbearable. The JNA closed all entries to the town, oversaw the supply of electricity and water, and the population was doubled after the arrival of displaced Croatians from Tovarnik, Sarengrad, Bapska and Lovas, villages which lie on the Vukovar-Ilok road, told Magovac. Loud explosions were heard daily from the direction of Vukovar so the attack on Ilok was expected at any moment, said the witness. In that type of situation representatives from Ilok were forced, among everything else and because of pressure from European monitors, to sign an agreement to surrender the town, and with that the JNA ensured passage to the free, Croatian territory. The agreement was signed on 26 October 1991 and on 27 October a convoy left the town with more than 10,000 civilians. At the final meeting before the departure Magovac saw the accused Dokmanovic in a camouflaged uniform and asked him: "What have I done wrong to have all of this happen to me?". "I don't know but as president of the municipality I will form a people's court to deliver judgement on everyone", answered Dokmanovic said Magovac. After the first multi-party elections, Dokmanovic was elected as the Vukovar Mayor but following the start of Serbian rebellion, the Croatian government in June 1991 dissolve the Municipal Council of Vukovar and appointed Commissioner Marin Vidic-Bilog. Meanwhile, Serbs continued to recognise Dokmanovic as the mayor and he presented himself as president of the "Serbian Municipality of Vukovar". The other witness Marinko Vladic, a qualified agronomist from Ilok, also saw Dokmanovic in a camouflaged uniform in Ilok. When the convoy was leaving Ilok, the JNA inspected every vehicle that moved. One JNA officer stopped Vladic and said that he could continue the journey but without the car which belonged to the firm for which he worked. This is when Vladic saw Dokmanovic nearby and asked for his assistance but Dokmanovic declined. Questioned by Dokmanovic's lawyer if the convoy had securely crossed Vojvodina to the free Croatian territory, Vladic answered that he personally did not have a problem but 30 people were removed from the convoy and taken to prison camps in Serbia. In cross-questioning Dokmanovic's lawyer, Tom Fila, tried to prove that his defendant was not the mayor at that time, insisting that the municipal council was dissolved beforehand. Prosecution tried to prove that Dokmanovic, in spite of the Croatian government dismissing the municipal council, further discharged the highest civil duties which the local Serbs recognised. The Dokmanovic trial adjourned on Wednesday and continues on 2 February. (hina) jn mrb 211959 MET jan 98