The Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia dismissed the appeal lodged by the State Attorney's Office against the decision of the Split County Court according to which the proceedings against Nebojša Baljak and Stevo Ivanišević were discontinued. This trial was discontinued because Baljak and Ivanišević had already been found guilty in 1996 for war crime against civilians committed in the same area, at the same time. The extent of criminal acts for which they had been sentenced before exceeds the extent of criminal acts they were charged in the new indictment. The prison sentence of 20 years which had been pronounced against the defendants in the final verdict is a maximum sentence for a war crime against civilians. More about this war crime case...

The Osijek County State Attorney's Office took over the criminal prosecution against Milorad Momić who is the citizen of the Republic of Croatia and of the Republic of France. It issued against him an investigation order because of the war crime committed against civilians. There is a founded suspicion that, on 16 or 17 July 1995, in Godinske Bare near Trnovo (BiH), as member of the "Škorpioni" formation belonging to the Republika Srpska Army, together with several more members of the same formation, he killed six detained members of Bosnian ethnicity by opening fire at their backs. After killing minor D.S. (1979), minor S.F. (1978), minor A.A. (1978), J.D. (1970), S.I. (1960) and S.S. (1959), the petrol was poured over their bodies and set on fire.

The accused person is already detained because of ongoing criminal proceedings against him before the Vukovar County Court - also for a criminal offence under Article 120, paragraph 1 of the OKZRH. This detention followed after he had been extradited to Croatia by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of France. Therefore, in order to conduct this proceedings, and due to the specialty rule, additional request for extradition for the mentioned criminal offence has to be submitted.

Extra-trial chamber of the Zagreb County Court vacated detention against Tomislav Merčep, indicted for war crimes committed in Pakračka Poljana and at Zagrebački Velesajam. The Court Panel vacated his detention because it was of the opinion that the Hospital for Detained Persons is not in position to provide Merčep, who is suffering from several serious health problems, an adequate health care and necessary physical therapy. The full version of the news published on the web site of the Zagreb County Court see (in Croatian) here.

The Zagreb County State Attorney’s Office announced lodging an appeal against this decision because it is of the opinion that there are no founded reasons for vacating detention against Merčep.

The Higher Court in Belgrade pronounced a non-final verdict finding guilty all fourteen defendants (4 members of local territorial defence, 4 JNA members and 6 members of the “Dušan Silni” paramilitary formation) sentencing them to prison sentences amounting 128 years.

See here the announcement issued by the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia here (in Serbian language).

The Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia will lodge an appeal against the first-instance verdict issued by the Court Council of the War Crimes Department of the Higher Court in Belgrade against Zoran Vukšić, Slobodan Strigić, Branko Hrnjak and Velimir Bertić for committing a war crime against civilians in the former Beli Manastir municipality in October 1991.

See here the announcement issued by the Prosecution. (in Serbian language)

The Higher Court in Belgrade pronounced the first-instance verdict against four ex-members of the Police Special Unit of the so-called SAO Eastern Slavonija, Baranja and Western Sirmium finding them guilty for committing a war crime against civilians in Beli Manastir.

Zoran Vukšić, Slobodan Strigić, Branko Hrnjak and Velimir Bertić were found guilty for killing six civilians of non-Serb ethnicity, unlawful apprehensions, intimidation, harming physical integrity and torture. Vukšić was sentenced to a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, Strigić was sentenced to 10, Hrnjak to 5 and Bertić to one year and six months in prison.

More about this war crime case…

After the repeated first-instance trial, Željko Šuput and Milan Panić, members of Serb formations, were sentenced to 4 years, i.e. 3 years and 6 months in prison for the crime committed against civilians imprisoned in Korenica. More about the trial...

For the fourth time already, the Osijek County Court found Čedo Jović guilty of committing a war crime against civilians referred to in Article 120, paragraph 1 of the OKZRH in conjunction with Article 28 of the same Act. Previously, the VSRH had quashed three times the convictions rendered at the first-instance. The defendant was sentenced to 5 years in prison. His detention is extended. His time already spent in detention has been accumulated to 3 years and 11 months. Read more...

The Sisak County State Attorney's Office dropped charges against Borislav Mikelić charged with war crimes against civilians in the Petrinja area. According to press-clippings, it was stated in the Sisak ŽDO'memo which had been sent to the Zagreb County Court (the court at which the trial had been reopened and underway on the basis of Mikelić's request) that after inspections it had been concluded that no evidence could have been found which would connect Mikelić with the offenses as charged.

Mikelić - who was the former director of the Petrinja "Gavrilović" company, and a PM of the so-called Republic of Serb Krajina during the war, on the basis of the judgement rendered in June 1993, which became legally binding because Mikelić's defense counsel did not lodge any appeal by virtue of the office - was sentenced in his absence to 20 years in prison. Eight more defendants were sentenced to the same prison term in the same trial. They were all tried in absentia.

More about this case, read here.

Supreme Court accepted the appeal by the proseuction against the first-instance judgment rejecting the charge rendered by the Sisak County Court in the trial against defendant Željko Belina et al. for the war crime against civilians committed in Novska in December 1991 by killing Goranka and Vera Mileusnić and Blaženka Slabak, and wounding Petar Mileusnić. See more...

The Split County Court conducted a reopened trial against Miljenko Bajić, ex-military HV policeman, previously sentenced in absentia to 6 years in prison for the crime committed against detained civilians at the Military Research Centre ´Lora´ in Split. Two of the mentioned civilians died because of the injuries sustained during maltreatment.
Bajić, being a fugitive from justice, was arrested in September 2010. Since he had been sentenced in his absence, a trial re-opening in his case was approved and it was conducted on 14 May 2012. The previous judgment was confirmed except for the sentencing section which was changed so that Bajić's prison sentence was reduced from 6 years (in the previous judgment) to 4 years and 6 months, as it had been proposed by the Split ŽDO.
More about the trial for the crime against detained civilians at Lora is available here.

The Appeals Hearing in the case of Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač has been scheduled to be held at the ICTY today, on 14 May 2012, from 9:00 to 18:30 hours.

At the Rijeka County Court began the main hearing against nine members of Serb formations who are charged with execution of at least 56 citizens of Cerovljani and Hrvatska Dubica. The crime was committed on 21 October 1991 in Baćin, in the area known as Skelište. The 8th defendant Marin Krivošić is the only defendant available and present at the hearing, whereas the other defendants are unavailable to Croatian judiciary and they are tried in their absence.
The Sisak County State Attorney's Office laid the indictment against the mentioned defendants in 2010.
In 1997, an unidentified female person from Bosanska Dubica reported  existence of a mass grave to criminal police in Sarajevo which forwarded this report to MUP RH.

More about the trial, see here.

The Vukovar County Court's War Crimes Council pronounced the judgment in the case of Miloš Stanimirović and another thirteen defendants. Seven defendants were found guilty of committing a war crime against civilians and sentenced to prison from 5 to 10 years. Four defendants were acquitted. In respect of three defendants, the charges were rejected by applying the General Amnesty Act because the State Attorney's Office changed  the legal qualification previously contained in the indictment into an armed rebellion. All defendants were tried in their absence. More about the trial see here.

Ater the repeated first-instance trial, the Zagreb County Court's War Crimes Council found defendant Milenko Vidak guilty of committing a war crime against civilians by killing civilian Stjepan Sučić in Sunjska Greda in August 1993. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison. More about the trial see here.

Monitoring team's report on war crime trials held in November and December 2011 is available here.

Monitoring team's report on war crime trials held in September and October 2011 is available here.

After the repeated trial, the Zagreb County Court's War Crimes Council found the defendants guilty and sentenced them to the following prison sentences: Pero Đermanović (9 years), Dubravko Čavić (7 years) and Ljubiša Čavić (2 years). More about the case, see here.

The Statement can be viewed here.

Five persons - former members of the 7^th HV Guard Brigade were found guilty by the Zagreb County Court and were sentenced with a first-instance verdict for the war crime against war prisoners committed in September 1995 in the Glamoč area in the BiH. Tihomir Šavorić and Nenad Jurinec are sentenced to six years each and Antun Novačić is sentenced to five years in prison because they executed six detained members of the Republika Srpska Army. Robert Precehtjel and Robert Berak are sentenced to two years each for aiding and abetting the commission of the crime. The 1^st defendant Emil Črnčec and the 6^th defendant Goran Gaća are acquitted.

Civil society organisations Documenta, Centre for Peace, Nonviolence and Human Rights-Osijek and Civic Committee for Human Rights issued a press-release in respect of the decision on conditional release of Mirko Norac.

The January-May 2011 Report on Monitoring War Crime Trials was presented today at the press-conference held at the Human Rights House in Zagreb. The Report can be viewed here.

The last fugitive wanted by the ICTY Goran Hadžić has been arrested today.

Monitoring team's report on war crime trials held in May and June 2011 is available here.

Germany has extradited to Croatia Renato Petrov sentenced in 1995 in his absence to 20 years in prison for war crimes committed against Croatian civilians in Škabrnja. He is placed in a Zadar prison.

Petrov was arrested in Dusseldorf in April 2011 based on an international arrest warrant issued by the Interpol.

The War Crimes Council of the Osijek County Court pronounced the verdict by which it acquitted the 1^st defendant Damir Kufner, rejected the charge in respect of the 2^nd defendant Davor Šimić, acquitted the 3^rd defendant Pavao Vancaš, found guilty the 4^th defendant Tomica Poletto and sentenced him to 15 years in prison, found guilty the 5^th defendant Željko Tutić and sentenced him to 12 years in prison and acquitted the 6^th defendant Antun Ivezić.

More about the case can be viewed here.

Serbian President Boris Tadić told reporters at the press-conference that today early in the morning Ratko Mladić was arrested!

The ICTY Office of the Prosecutor did not issue a notice of appeal against the first-instance judgement wherein Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač were sentenced to 24, i.e. 18 years in prison and Ivan Čermak was acquitted of charges. Therefore, the acquitting ruling in the case of Čermak has become final.

Monitoring team's report on war crime trials held in March and April 2011 is available here.

Monitorig of War Crime Trials Report for 2010 see here.

Monitoring team's report on war crime trials held in January and February 2011 is available here.

Centre for Peace, Nonviolence and Human Rights-Osijek, Documenta - Centre for Dealing with the Past and the Civic Committee for Human Rights share the opinion that before closing the Chapter 23 the Republic of Croatia could take measures which would enable a step forward in prosecution of war crimes. Summary of the requirements can be viewed here.

The fact that the crime at Ovčara was to happen was known by all persons who could have and should have prevented it - handing the prisoners over to Territorial Defence (hereinafter: TO) members was, actually, a permission which allows the crime! A series of the testimonies in the Ovčara case (tried before the War Crimes Chamber in Belgrade), and in the case of the war crime at Vukovar hospital (a concluded first-instance trial conducted before the Vukovar County Court) address this issue clearly. It appears that the Appeals Chamber of the ICTY had not been provided with a detailed information about the two aforementioned trials. We expect from the ICTY, the Serbian Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor and the Croatian State Attorney's Office to cooperate in order to investigate and prosecute the responsible persons based on their command and guarantee responsibility.

Herewith, we appeal to the competent prosecution authorities to do their best within their abilities to prosecute the commanders responsible for the crime at Ovčara.

This Open Letter addressed to Serge Brammertz, Mladen Bajić and Vladimir Vukčević can be viewed here.

Monitoring team's report on war crime trials held in November and December 2010 is available here.

According to media reports, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia quashed the second- and the third instance convicting verdict of the VSRH, in which Mihajlo Hrastov was convicted for the murder of 13 members of the reserve unit of the so-called JNA in Karlovac at the Korana bridge in 1991. The Constitutional Court quashed this verdict due to a violation of the constitutional right to a fair trial. The case was reversed back to the Supreme Court for a retrial bu to be conducted by a completely altered council.

The Sisak County Court found the defendant Milenko Vidak guilty and sentenced him to 8 years in prison for war crime against civilians committed by killing civilian Stjepan Sučić. More about the case...

Press release in respect of the judgment rendered by the Sisak County Court for the crime in Novska, you can read here. 

Stanko Vujanović, already sentenced to 20 years in prison for the commission of crime at Ovčara, has been found guilty also by the Higher Court in Belgrade for the murder of four persons and wounding one person in the Sever's family house in Vukovar in September 1991. More...

Retired military officers Major-Generals Branimir Glavaš, Mirko Norac and Vladimir Zagorac, Colonel Tihomir Orešković and Major Siniša Rimac, who received their final convicting sentences, have been stripped of their ranks by the President of the Republic Ivo Josipović. His decision signed on 9 September 2010 was published in the Official Gazette on 20 September 2010.

Branimir Glavaš and Mirko Norac-Kevo have been stripped of the Major-General rank due to conviction for war crimes, and Vladimir Zagorac has been stripped of the same rank because of his abuse of office. Tihomir Orešković has been stripped of the Colonel rank because of the conviction for war crimes and Siniša Rimac has been stripped of the Major rank because of the murder.

Based on this decision, all five men forfeited the right to wear the Croatian army uniform with corresponding insignia and other rank-related entitlements.

Monitoring team's report on war crime trials held in July and August 2010 is available here.

This Press Release was prepared by the Centre for Peace, Nonviolence and Human Rights-Osijek, the Documenta - Centre for Dealing with the Past and the Civic Committee for Human Rights.

Full version of the Press Release is available here.

More on the verdict passed by the Supreme Court in the Glavaš et al. case, see here.

Before the Sisak County Court, members of Croatian formations – Ivica Kosturin and Damir Vrban have been found guilty of killing Slavko Ivanjek in September 1991 in Letovanić. See more...

According to the information available on internet sites, the Australian Police arrested Dragan Vasiljković after his being on the run for 43 days. Dragan Vasiljković, also known as Captain Dragan, is indicted in Croatia for the commission of war crimes.

The purpose of this Round Table is to point at the lack of mechanisms for public discussions that might have influence on the amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia and initiation of such discussions with regard to amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia proposed by individual civil society organisations and/or citizens.

Invitation of the Round Table
Programme of the Round Table

Monitoring team's report on war crime trials held in May and June 2009. is available here

Six-months Monitoring Report January/June 2009 is available here

Monitoring team of the Centre for Peace, Nonviolence and Human Rights, the Documenta, and the Civic Committee for Human Rights has published the Annual Report on War Crime Trials Monitoring for 2008. The report is available here.

On the occasion of publication of the Annual Report on War Crime Trials in Croatia in 2008, we organised the discussion on key findings and recommendations regarding the plans and priorities of the judicial institutions within the Action Plan for the Reform of the Judiciary, please read more here