COURT RECONSTRUCTS CRIME COMMITTED IN VUKOVAR IN 1991

VUKOVAR, Oct 28 (Hina) - As part of the trial conducted before the Vukovar County Court against 22 suspects charged with crimes against humanity and violations of international law which they allegedly committed during the occupation of Vukovar, the court on Thursday carried out a partial reconstruction of events which took place in storehouses of the Vukovar company called Velepromet after November 18, 1991 when this eastern Croatian town fell into the hands of the Serb rebels supported by the then Yugoslav Army. Serb paramilitaries and Yugoslav troops took captured Vukovar defenders and civilians to the premises of that company. Out of the 22 accused, only prime suspect Stevan Curnic is available to Croatian authorities. During Thursday's reconstruction on the Velepromet premises, Curnic showed in which barracks prisoners had been kept and he also showed the room called the carpenter's workshop which also served as a room for eliminating prisoners. Describing his imprisonment in one of the eight hangars, a witness Robert Matousek, said about 200 prisoners had been taken in that hangar. There were always three jailers with them in the hangar and two were in front of the building. Prisoners would be often taken out of the hangar for interrogation and would never come back, the witness said. According to him, "a French television crew came into the hangar several times to film inmates." (hina) mm ms