TWO WITNESSES TESTIFY IN PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS AGAINST SAKIC

( Editorial: --> 1544 ) ZAGREB, Aug 3 (Hina) - The investigating judge of the Zagreb County Court on Monday heard the testimonies of Dragutin Skrgatic and Mirko Persen in the pre-trial proceedings against Dinko Sakic, the former commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp during World War II. Skrgatic and Persen said they had not seen the suspect during their detention in the Jasenovac and Stara Gradiska concentration camps. Skrgatic was arrested by the Ustasha police in Zagreb on May 4, 1942 for his anti-fascist activities. He was transported to Jasenovac on May 17, 1942 and then transferred to Stara Gradiska where he stayed until November 1943. Skrgatic testified about bad conditions in Stara Gradiska where inmates used to die of typhus and dysentery. During his detention in the Stara Gradiska camp, inmates were frequently beaten up and slapped, the witness said. In November 1943, the witness was transferred to Jasenovac. Skrgatic, whose duty was to cut down trees, said sanitary conditions and food in Jasenovac were very bad. Skrgatic said he personally had not seen inmates being executed but had knowledge of inmates being taken out from the camp during the night and executed. He said he used to see their corpses in the Sava river when sent to fell trees. Skrgatic said he had not seen Sakic during his detention in Jasenovac and Stara Gradiska but added he had heard that Sakic was a member of a unit which secured the Stara Gradiska camp. In February 1944 Skrgatic was transferred back to Stara Gradiska where he remained until November the same year, when he was taken back to Jasenovac which he fled on April 22, 1945 during a prisoner breakout. The second witness, Mirko Persen, was arrested on March 8, 1943 in Zagreb under suspicion of being a Communist. He was taken to Stara Gradiska on June 30, where, he said, inmates died of starvation. It was especially Jews who were being treated badly by Ustasha soldiers in the Stara Gradiska concentration camp, the witness said. In mid 1944, the execution of inmates started. The witness recalled September 23, 1944, when between 1,300 and 1,500 inmates were lined up. Of them, between 200 and 300 Jews and Serbs were separated and taken away to be executed. The witness said he remembered that inmates were tortured and executed in the Ustasha infirmary in Stara Gradiska. According to Persen, a group of 20 to 30 women and small children were brought to the infirmary in autumn 1944. After some time, the witness saw their bodies loaded onto a cart. In June 1944, Persen was amnestied but remained in the camp until October 1944, when he was taken to Zagreb. He was released on November 5, 1944. Like Skrgatic, Persen too had no knowledge of Sakic's role in the camp. (hina) rml/mbr 031911 MET aug 98