FORMER JASENOVAC CAMP INMATE TESTIFIES IN SAKIC TRIAL

( Editorial: --> 9248 ) ZAGREB, July 22 (Hina) - The investigating judge at the Zagreb County Court on Wednesday examined Vladimir Cvija, a witness in a trail against Dinko Sakic. Sakic was the commander of a Croatian World War Two concentration camp in Jasenovac. Cvija, born 1919, was arrested as a communist in Zagreb in May 1942 and was sent to Jasenovac. In spring 1943 he was transferred to a concentration camp in Stara Gradiska, then returned to Jasenovac in mid 1944, where he remained until January 15, 1941, when he was exchanged in Pisarovina. The witness said he had seen the accused twice at the Jasenovac camp. Sakic was "dressed up" and was said to be "youthfully ambitious and cruel", the witness said, but could not testify that Sakic had committed or been present at a crime. Cvija assessed the time at the Jasenovac camp while Sakic was commander as a "golden age" for the inmates, as no mass killings took place, the food was better, hygiene had improved, packages could be received, even a camp orchestra was put up in which the witness himself played. Cvija spoke about mass killings of Jasenovac inmates in the autumn of 1942, at the Granik location. He said he heard the people's cries as he lived in the attic of a building for carpentry which had no roof insulation. The witness said he could not remember many things because he had tried to forget a lot. (hina) ha jn 221645 MET jul 98