Eight defendants: Jovan Ćurčić, Miloš Držajić, Mladen Maksimović, Dušan Mišić, Dragan (Čede) Savić, Jovica Vučenović, Dragan Savić, Željko Savić, members of Serbian paramilita groups, are prosecuted on indictment by the County Attorney′s Office from Vukovar, No. K-DO-17/03 as of 9th September 2003, for the criminal act of war crime against civilians, Article 120, Paragraph 1, of the Croatian Criminal Justice Act.
Criminal proceedings were conducted before the County Court in Vukovar, ending in the Sentence No. K-44/03 passed by the said court on 13th July 2004, based on which the defendant Jovan Čurčić was sentenced to a fifteen-year term, the defendant Miloš Držajić to an eleven-year term, the defendant Mladen Maksimović to an eight-year term, the defendatn Dušan Mišić to a seven-year term, the defendant Dragan (Čede) Savić to a seven-year term, and the defendant Jovica Vučenović to a seven-year term. The indictment against the defendants Dragan Savić and Željko Savić was rejected.
The Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia set aside the sentence of the County Court in Vukovar due to a substential violation of the provisions on criminal proceedings and reversed the proceedings. The evidence requested by the Supreme Court was presented in the retrial conducted under number K-12/05 against six defendants (who were sentenced to imprisonment).
Three defendants are present at the hearings; they are under detention. Three defendants are on the run and tried in absence.
On 15th December 2005 the Court passed the sentence No. K-12/05 as of 15th December 2005, finding the defendants guilty and sentencing them to a term of imprisonment: the defendant Jovan Čurčić to a fourteen-year term, the defendant Miloš Držajić to a ten-year term, the defendant Mladen Maksimivić to a seven-year term, the defendant Dušan Mišić to a six-year term, the defendant Dragan (Čede) Savić to a six-year term, the defendant Jovica Vučenović to a six-year term. The present defendants will remain in detention until the sentence becomes final.
REPORTS FROM HEARINGS
Report from hearings in the period from March 2005. till June 2005.
