After today's non-final judgement, 60-year-old Serdar was released from prison, where he spent the last 11 months.
According to defence counsel Luka Susak, not one of the 12 witnesses who testified in the retrial which began in May accused Serdar of participating with six other persons in the mistreatment and killing of eight civilians in Siroka Kula in 1991. At that time, this village was occupied by Serb paramilitary troops.
The Gospic County Court found Serdar guilty of the crimes in absentia in 1994. The conviction was confirmed by the Supreme Court. Serdar returned to Croatia from Serbia last October and was imprisoned, even though he asked for a retrial. The Gospic County Court decided to hold a new trial four months later, after a warning by Serdar's attorney and an intervention by Supreme Court president Ivica Crnic. Because of his procrastination with the decision on the retrial, the State Judicial Council fined Gospic County Court president Pavle Rukavina. Crnic had demanded that Rukavina be relieved of his duties.