THREE NEW WITNESSES SPEAK AT DOKMANOVIC TRIAL

( Editorial: --> 0604 ) THE HAGUE, Feb 9 (Hina) - Prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Grant Niemann and Stefan Waespi, on Monday questioned three new witnesses for the prosecution in the trial against former Vukovar mayor Slavko Dokmanovic. Irena Kacic, 46, from Vukovar, a town in eastern Croatia, was the first witness. Her husband was killed in battle on 2 October 1991. After the fall of the town, Irena and her three children on 19 November took refuge in the Vukovar general hospital, awaiting evacuation. She last saw her son Igor, then 16, in the hospital on 20 November 1991. Veselin Sljivancanin, a commander of the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), ordered that the boy be separated from his mother and two sisters. Igor was identified among the remains exhumed from the mass grave at Ovcara, a nearby farm. Anica Ljubas from Sotin testified about attacks by JNA planes and tanks on her village in August 1991. The whole village was evacuated at 3am on 29 August, she said, stressing that was the last time she saw her son Hrvoje, who went to fight in Vukovar. He too was among persons identified from the Ovcara mass grave. Djuka Radocaj from Lovas testified about the months of hard labour and the maltreating he suffered as a detainee of the JNA and local Serb paramilitary units. "They extracted five of my teeth with pliers for pigs, put salt in my mouth and wanted to perforate my foot with a driller, but the current was weak," Radocaj told the Tribunal, adding his mother had been captured too. Radocaj was released on 23 December 1991 after some Serbs he knew had come to his aid. He came to Zagreb via Sarajevo. (hina) ha mm 091902 MET feb 98