Deposition From Austria, Witness Fears For Life

Arms trader Rothaichner said today he did not hand over the bags containing jewels to Zagorec.

ZAGREB, CROATIA – In the continuation of the trial to retired Croatian general Vladimir Zagorec for the jewels case, German arms trader Josef Rothaichner testified via a video link from an Austria court.

According to the testimony of Snjezana Spirak, he handed over pilot bags to Zagorec with jewels, but in his deposition during the inquest, Rothaichner said he did not hand over any bags to Zagorec, which he repeated while taking the stand today, which was closed for the public, unofficially.

Rothaichner believes that his safety is threatened, which is why he said he is “scared for his life”, because of recent murders in downtown Zagreb: the elimination of Ivana Hodak, daughter of Zagorec`s attorney Zvonimir Hodak and assassination on Nacional weekly co-founder Ivo Pukanic and the paper`s marketing director Niko Franjic.

The same source revealed that during his testimony, Rothaichner said he met Zagorec when he arrived in Croatia to get the money for armament.

Retired Croatian general Vladimir Zagorec is standing trial at the Zagreb County Court for allegations that he abused his position and authority. The reason for the charges is that in 2000, when stepping down from duty as assistant to the Minister of Defence, he took a bag containing diamonds from the Ministry of Defence safe