TRIAL AGAINST GOSPIC GROUP CONTINUES

RIJEKA, Feb 12 (Hina) - The head of the Service for the Protection of the Constitutional Order (SZUP) in Gospic in 1991, Mirko Kasumovic, on Tuesday resumed testifying at the trial against the so-called Gospic Group accused of war crimes committed against civilians in the Gospic area in 1991, being held at the Rijeka County Court. County State Prosecutor Doris Hrast read to the Panel of Judges, presided by Ika Saric, a January 1992 report the SZUP Centre in Gospic sent to the Service's headquarters in Zagreb, in which one of the accused, Tihomir Oreskovic, was mentioned as being responsible for events in the central Croatian town at the time. Kasumovic said he did not write the report which was signed by one of the Gospic Centre's operative employees. The report states that after release from detention in December 1991, Oreskovic gathered about a dozen of his followers, which made the residents of Gospic fear from retaliation. The report further mentions about a hundred people killed only because they were Serbs, which was followed by the torching and mining of their homes. The report also states that Oreskovic's group was attacking the then Croatian authorities, criticising the way in which it waged the war and signed truces, and adds that, upon arrival in Gospic, Oreskovic immediately began advocating extremism. The report says retired Croatian general Mirko Norac, another defendant, was completely under his influence. Kasumovic confirmed that Tomislav Mercep, along with two of his soldiers, destroyed all the inventory and furniture in the Gospic Centre before Kasumovic assumed the duty of SZUP head. They broke into safes with a pick and destroyed all the furniture, Kasumovic said. The trial resumes with Kasumovic's testimony on Wednesday. (hina) lml sb