ZAGREB, June 8 (Hina) - The trial of Dinko Sakic, a commander of the World War II Ustashi concentration camp Jasenovac, continued before the Zagreb County Court on Tuesday with the testimonies of witnesses for the prosecution on the
authenticity of copies of documents from the court file. The panel of judges today heard the testimonies of about 30 Jasenovac survivors and nine experts, while the testimonies of four survivors, who could not appear before the court due to illness, were read out. Slavica Plese, Lucija Benjovsky and Julija Kos testified about the authenticity of the copies. Plese (aged 61), head of the Croatian State Archive (HDA) department for more recent archive material from the period between 1848 and 1945, confirmed the authenticity of about 40 copies of documents of the National Commission for the Establishment of War Crimes Committed by the Occupying Forces and Their Collaborators, which operated from 1944 to 1947, as well as the authenticity of a copy of Sakic's personal file, a charter entitled "The Sign of Loyalty", which Sakic received as an Ustashi lieutenant, and a number of legal regulations adopted by the Independent State of Croatia (NDH).
ZAGREB, June 8 (Hina) - The trial of Dinko Sakic, a commander of the
World War II Ustashi concentration camp Jasenovac, continued
before the Zagreb County Court on Tuesday with the testimonies of
witnesses for the prosecution on the authenticity of copies of
documents from the court file.
The panel of judges today heard the testimonies of about 30
Jasenovac survivors and nine experts, while the testimonies of four
survivors, who could not appear before the court due to illness,
were read out.
Slavica Plese, Lucija Benjovsky and Julija Kos testified about the
authenticity of the copies.
Plese (aged 61), head of the Croatian State Archive (HDA)
department for more recent archive material from the period between
1848 and 1945, confirmed the authenticity of about 40 copies of
documents of the National Commission for the Establishment of War
Crimes Committed by the Occupying Forces and Their Collaborators,
which operated from 1944 to 1947, as well as the authenticity of a
copy of Sakic's personal file, a charter entitled "The Sign of
Loyalty", which Sakic received as an Ustashi lieutenant, and a
number of legal regulations adopted by the Independent State of
Croatia (NDH).
Plese said the only original documents found in the "camps' ruins"
were the so-called index of the camp's package-room, a list of
female prisoners, and a book of prisoners' activities.
Other documents and a list of victims were compiled by the National
Commission on the basis of material gathered by municipal and
county commissions.
Asked by Sakic's attorney Ivan Kern whether the HDA possessed the
May 1944 decision of the Assembly of the Anti-Fascist Council of
People's Liberation of Croatia (ZAVNOH) on the establishment and
the rule book of the National Commission, the witness said there was
no such decision in the archive because the decision and the rule
book had never been made public.
Lucija Benjovsky, aged 59, advisor with the Croatian Historical
Museum (HPM) and head of a 20th century collection of documents,
which includes part of documents, photos and items from the
Jasenovac and Stara Gradiska concentration camps, worked on the
historical material on the Jews in Croatia between 1918 and 1945.
Her scientific work was published by the Zagreb Jewish Community.
The HPM gave the majority of the material to the Jasenovac Memorial
Area.
According to Benjovsky, the museum had several original films made
during the NDH, as well as promotional photos about the camp,
presented in Zagreb in December 1942 at the exhibition "Year-Long
Activity of Concentration Camps", showing the activities of
inmates in camp workshops. The museum also possesses the photos of a
destroyed Jasenovac camp, taken in May and June 1945, the postcards
of inmates who received packages, and several prisoners' personal
items, found after the war. The witness confirmed that the copies of
documents in the court file matched the originals which were kept in
the HPM.
Witness Julija Kos, aged 46, a librarian at the Zagreb Jewish
Community, confirmed the authenticity of copies the Zagreb Jewish
Community submitted for the curt file. The copies match the files of
members of the Zagreb Jewish Community and other Zagreb Jews whom
the Zagreb Jewish Community had to list in 1941 in line with the then
valid legal regulations, as well as the files of the so-called
package-room - a list of Jewish inmates in Jasenovac and Stara
Gradiska who received packages. Kos stressed that the package-room
list did not include all Jewish prisoners, because there had been
inmates who had not been receiving any packages.
Kos insisted that her face not be filmed during the testimony.
The Sakic trial continues tomorrow, when the panel of judges is to
announce its decision on which material evidence will be presented
and which documents, suggested as evidence by the prosecution, will
be read out at the main hearing. Once the evidence is presented,
Sakic's attorney is expected to present the defence statement.
According to unofficial sources, Sakic will use the legal provision
granting him the right not to answer the questions of the
prosecution and the panel of judges.
(hina) jn rml