Zagreb, February 26, 1999

Report on the Criminal Proceedings against Dinko Sakic

The State District Attorney in Zagreb filed charges on December 15, 1998 against Dinko Sakic after completing a thorough investigation. The charges filed consist of criminal acts against humanity and international law - war crimes against civilians based on article 120, paragraph 1 of the Principal Criminal Law code of the Republic of Croatia. Based upon the standard definitions from the criminal code, the criminal acts consist of:

"having violated international law in wartime, he ordered and himself carried out torture, and inhumane acts as well as the execution of civilians. He also gave orders and employed measures resulting in the terrorization and forced labor of prisoners, starvation and collective punishment of civilians."

The above charges will be either confirmed or dismissed subsequent to the interrogation of 35 witnesses and the reading and analysis of a substantial number of documents submitted in support of the charges.

A ruling of the court on December 16, 1998, extended the imprisonment of defendant Sakic, based upon article 102, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code.

The defendant’s attorney submitted an objection to the charges on December 23, 1998, which was dismissed by the court as groundless on January 18th, 1998.

The main court proceedings are scheduled to take place on February 4, 1999 at 9:30am, with the beginning of the trial itself set for March 4, 1999 at 9:30am.

Cedo Prodanovic, who holds power of attorney for one of the victims, Mr. Boskovic, submitted a brief requesting the deposing of three witnesses, one from Bosnia-Herzegovina and two from the Republic of Yugoslavia. All had been previously subpoenaed during pre-trial hearings and had failed to appear.

On February 12, 1999, the court extended once again the imprisonment of defendant Sakic, as the prior continuation had expired since the last court ruling.