"The presiding judge of the panel of judges in charge of processing war crimes, Spomenka Tonkovic, has taken all measures to protect witnesses and this has been carried out in line with the law, namely through a a request sent to the Croatian Justice Ministry," Scepanovic said.
This means that when summons were sent to the witnesses, the ministry was asked to ensure security measures for the witnesses from the moment they pass the Serbian-Croatian border, when they arrive at main hearings and while they leave the main hearings and the country, Scepanovic said.
The court has not yet received any official confirmation that witnesses, who are scheduled to testify on 17 October, will not appear.
Some of the summonsed witnesses who are to testify in Split in late October were quoted by the Belgrade-based Radio B92 as saying a few days ago that they did not want to travel to Croatia.
They accused the Serbian authorities of failing to support them and they believe that "it would be the best for them to avoid a trip to Croatia and testify by video-link".
The Serbian office of the prosecutor for war crimes on Monday stated that Croatia had offered all necessary guarantees regarding the safety and security of 14 witnesses from Serbia-Montenegro who expected to appear at the trial of eight former Croat military police officers, accused of war crimes against civilians in the Lora prison in Split in 1992.
The spokesman for the Serbian office of the prosecutor for war crimes, Bruno Vekaric, told Hina on Tuesday that guarantees for the security of witnesses while staying in Croatia had arrived from Croatia a few days ago.
This was preceded by a very good cooperation with the Split County State Prosecutor who visited Belgrade in March this year to interview witnesses.
During today's continuation of the main hearing in Split, a witness, Zeljko Maglov, said that he had never seen nor had any knowledge about the maltreatment of prisoners in Lora.
He strongly rejected the testimony of another witness, Mario Barisic, whom he described as "a mental patient who has never been in Lora".
Barisic recently pointed the finger at Maglov saying that he should be held responsible for the torture of POWs in Lora.
"He is a patient who invented everything," Maglov said today.
During the retrial for the Lora war crimes four indictees are in the dock, while another four indictees are at large.