Branimir Glavas was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment pending appeal on Friday for war crimes committed against Serb civilians in the eastern city of Osijek in 1991, while the other five defendants were given terms ranging from five to eight years.
"If this had been a politically motivated process, it would have lasted a few months and we would not have bothered to present so much evidence," Presiding Judge Zeljko Horvatovic said after delivering the verdict.
He recalled that 120 witnesses had been heard in the course of the 19-month-long trial.
Judge Horvatovic dismissed Glavas's claims that the principal witness Krunoslav Fehir had falsely accused him and that he had done so for his personal gain.
Horvatovic said that Fehir's testimony was one of the crucial pieces of evidence in the Garage case against Glavas, who was responsible in his capacity as chief of the Osijek National Defence Secretariat for the torture and murder of two Serb civilians -- Cedomir Vuckovic and Djordje Petrovic.
In this case it was proved that Glavas had command responsibilities before he was officially appointed commander of the defence forces in Osijek. In many interviews and books Glavas was described as a pivotal figure in the defence of the city together with his 300-400 armed men, Horvatovic said.
In the case dubbed the Sellotape case, Glavas was convicted of issuing orders, together with members of the Independent Uskok Company, to illegally arrest, mistreat and murder Serb civilians on the banks of the Drava river.
The judge said that the statements by co-defendants Gordana Getos Magdic and Zdravko Dragic, given to the Osijek police during the pre-trial investigation, were of crucial importance for the Sellotape case.
The statements show that Getos Magdic passed on orders received from Glavas and the second defendant Ivica Krnjak.
She received orders orally or on pieces of paper with names of people who were to be killed, and later troops under Krnjak's command took them from their homes and killed them on the bank of the Drava River.
All the victims, except one who managed to survive, were killed with shots to their heads, and their hands were tied with adhesive tape. All of them were residents of Osijek and worked for local companies or institutions, the judge said.
The Zagreb County Court panel of judges found Glavas guilty on command responsibility, sentencing him to five years in prison for the Garage case and eight for the Sellotape case. He was given a single sentence of 10 years' imprisonment.
Mitigating circumstances were Glavas's participation in the Homeland Defence War and his substantial contribution to the struggle against the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and rebel Serbs.
Second defendant Ivica Krnjak was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, Gordana Getos Magdic to seven, while the other three accused in the Sellotape case - Dino Kontic, Tihomir Valentic and Zdravko Dragic - were each given five years.
Glavas and Getos Magdic were not in the courtroom today, because their presence was not required under the law, but since they were sentenced to prison, they will be placed in custody, which is mandatory in case of prison sentences of five years and more.
The highest possible sentence for the crimes he was convicted of is 20 years. However, since Glavas regained parliamentary immunity in January 2008, the parliamentary Credentials and Privileges Commission will decide whether he can be kept in custody until the verdict becomes final.
Defence lawyers of the accused announced appeals against the non-final verdict.