TRIAL OF CROATIAN PILOTS FOR THE PETROVAC ROAD ROCKETING TO CONTINUE

BELGRADE, JULY 7 /SRNA/ - The trial of four Croatian pilots accused of rocketing a Serb refugee convoy on the Petrovac road in August 1995, during Croatia's military and police operation Storm, is scheduled to continue tomorrow at the Higher Court in Belgrade.

Three members of the Drča family are expected to testify before the War Crimes Department. The family lost grandmother Darinka, her six-year-old grandson, and her 21-year-old granddaughter, as well as the granddaughter's unborn child. At the previous hearing in April, doctor Milovan Kerkez testified via video link that the most difficult moment for him was seeing a decapitated child brought to the health centre in Bosanski Petrovac. Kerkez said that there were 10 fatalities, at least 35 people were seriously wounded, while the number of those with minor injuries was so high that he did not even count them. He said that he saw convoys filled with children, elderly people and women as they passed through Bosanski Petrovac, but that he did not notice any military equipment or soldiers. Kerkez testified that he heard the sound of aircraft and then explosions, as he was outside the hospital at the time. It was only when the dead and wounded began arriving that he realised what had happened. The War Crimes Prosecutor's Office of Serbia has indicted four Croatian pilots – Vladimir Mikac, Zdenko Radulj, Željko Jenić and Danijel Borović - for rocketing a Serb refugee convoy on the Petrovac road in August 1995, during the Croatian military and police operation Storm. The Croatian pilots are being tried in absentia for war crimes against the civilian population. They are charged with killing and wounding civilians, as well as destroying property. Victim testimonies describe the attack on the convoy, including the deaths and injuries of family members, as well as the wounding of children and women in the convoy, which consisted of tractors, cars, and pedestrians rather than military vehicles. The continuation of the trial is scheduled for 10:00 a.m.