Drago Bosnjak, standing trial for war crimes in Sisak at the County Court in Osijek, offered an alibi on Tuesday when his son, Hrvoje, testified that they were both on holiday when some of the crimes took place.
Testifying at the trial of Drago Bosnjak and Vladimir Milankovic, wartime deputy police commander of Sisak, Bosnjak's son Hrvoje, claimed that a hotel bill existed that he and his father paid for their vacation in Crikvenica on the Croatian coast in August 1991.
Ivan Galic, a hotelier in Crikvenica, confirmed that Hrvoje and Drago Bosnjak stayed in his hotel from August 18-26, 1991.
Bosnjak, former member of the Sisak special police unit known as “the Wolves”, is accused of organising and leading a group that detained and tortured Serb civilians, allegedly killing eight of the 24 victims named in the indictment.
The indictment covers 12 months, from July 1991 until June 1992.
The second indictee, Vladimir Milankovic, is charged with allowing, encouraging and failing to investigate the physical and psychological torture, illegal detention and humiliation of Croatian Serb civilians in the Sisak area.
He is also charged with personally torturing and ordering the illegal arrest of a large number of Serb civilians from Sisak, which resulted in the death of 24 people.
The prosecutor complained about Hrvoje Bosnjak's testimony at Tuesday's trial, claiming it had been prearranged to help his father.
The prosecutor also maintained that the bill from the Crikvenica hotel wasn't credible.
The trial continues Wednesday.
Timeline of events in the case against 13 former Serb fighters charged with committing war crimes in the villages of Cuska, Zahac, Ljubenic and Pavlac in Kosovo in 1999.