by Ivica MARIJACIC
Victims of Serb nationality passed through the pathology department of the General Hospital in Zadar at the end of 1991 and in early 1992. There were really such individual murders of Serb civilians in Zadar and the Zadar region. Besides, newspapers wrote about them, but it is important to state that in all cases the Police surveyed the crime scene, processed the cases and issued arrest warrants. An investigation of documents, either at the State Prosecutor's office in Zadar or at the Police Station, indicates that the Serb victims were killed by shots from a firearm, that their corpses were found in the nearby forest or fields, but they were not found at the refuse dump nor had traces of torture, as some media in Zadar maliciously wrote in the past.
Perhaps as another indication that Levar's testimony is a lie, at least in the part dealing with Zadar, it is yet again necessary to remind of some individual crimes which took place in Zadar against Serb civilians. These crimes prove that the remains of Serb civilians were not burnt on the city refuse dump. Thus, it is known, since in Zadar murders of Serbs were not hidden from the public, that on January 3 1992, early in the morning, Radoslav Zezelj(47) was found dead next to the road between Poljica and Vrsi, in the Dukici region. He had been taken from his home a day before by two uniformed men. Their identity remains unknown until today. He was shot by nine bullets and it is possible that the motive for the murder is theft since, according to his close relatives, Zezelj had some money. After an investigation the Police issued an arrest warrant against an unknown perpetrator. Further, 62-year-old Zadran Radivoj Pandurski was found dead on June 9 1992 in the region Gornje Njive above Bokanjac, next to a vineyard. There were several bullet wounds on his body. It is assumed that he had been killed on June 5, several days before his body was found. Pandurski was also taken away from his home, and before that he had fought to reclaim his apartment in Zadar. Unfortunately, in this case also, nothing is known about the perpetrators but an arrest warrant has been issued. In April 1992, Vasilije Lezaja and Savo Drca were taken away from their homes by unidentified uniformed persons. They were found dead on April 18 1992 in a field, in Bokanjac. The Police investigation established that they were killed by bullets. Torture of other kinds or burning haven't been registered, and the perpetrator of this crime is also unknown.
Before all these murders, the murder of Nenad Acimovic, a former policeman, had also been recorded. He was killed in Poljice near Zadar from a firearm, by a shot in the head, and his arms were tied. The murder was carried out by persons who were members of the Croatian National Guard. The Police identified the perpetrators, declared them as suspects and reported them. The case moved under military jurisdiction and it is not known what its outcome was. At the same time, Serb Gojko Belanovic was killed from a firearm on September 12 1991. The Police processed the case and charged Vladimir Stehovski and Miroslav Giergia, who are currently being tried for that murder by the District Court in Zadar.
The most serious case of multiple murder occurred at the end of 1991, when three Serbs were killed from firearms. They had previously been taken from Zadar to the village of Sibuljine under the Velebit Mt. They were killed by Ivo Vukic and he was sentenced to several years in prison for that murder by the District Court in Zadar. It should be mentioned that Krsto Kosovic was found dead in Zadar and in his case an arrest warrant against an unknown perpetrator was issued.
"Unfortunately, there were burnt Croatian victims whose remains I found together with other members of the team in burnt Croat houses, but not a single Serb victim has been burnt nor its remains discovered at the Zadar refuse dump, as that witness claims," emphasizes Dr. Dujella.