SISAK, Jan 28(Hina) - The trial of former police officers Stanislav Gavron of Vojnic and Ivan Hubelic of Sisak, accused of killing Serb civilian Nikola Drobnjak in Sisak on 5 April 1992, started under tight security measures at the
Sisak County Court on Wednesday.
SISAK, Jan 28(Hina) - The trial of former police officers Stanislav
Gavron of Vojnic and Ivan Hubelic of Sisak, accused of killing Serb
civilian Nikola Drobnjak in Sisak on 5 April 1992, started under tight
security measures at the Sisak County Court on Wednesday.#L#
Under the indictment, which was read out by Sisak County Prosecutor
Stipe Vrdoljak, Gavron and Hubelic are charged with murdering Drobnjak
solely because of his nationality.
The panel of judges, presided by Judge Melita Avedic, heard the
testimonies of three witnesses from Zagreb - Darko Zitko, Robert
Vuglac and Zeljko Starman, members of the Croatian Army's 148th
Brigade. The three men were posted near the Sava River at Blinjski Kut
near Sisak at 6 pm on 5 April 1992, when they witnessed the murder of
a civilian. They saw unidentified police officers bring the civilian
in an all-terrain vehicle to a location near their position on the
river bank, after which they shot at him four times and left his body
lying in the river.
The witnesses were shown photographs from the court file, but they
were unable to identify the civilian whose murder by unidentified
police offices they had witnessed. They claimed that the face of the
victim was unrecognisable and that the murdered man, whom they had
seen briefly, had worn a shirt and a jacket, while the man on the
photographs wore a pullover under his jacket.
When faced with the accused, the witnesses said they could not
identify them positively.
On the night of the murder, all three witnesses were transferred to
the Military Police command in Zagreb. They were told that the reason
for the transfer was their personal safety.
Five days after the murder, they gave statements to an investigating
judge. At today's hearing, they stuck to their initial statements,
saying that it was difficult for them to remember all the details of
the incident and recognise the perpetrators 12 years after the crime.
Today's hearing was observed by representatives of the OSCE, families
of the accused and representatives of Homeland War associations.
(Hina) rml