ZAGREB, Dec 23 (Hina) - The Croatian Supreme Court discussed at an open session on Tuesday an appeal lodged by Zorana Banic (51), sentenced to 13 years in prison for war crimes against civilians in Skabrnja, Zadar hinterland, in
November 1991.
ZAGREB, Dec 23 (Hina) - The Croatian Supreme Court discussed at an open
session on Tuesday an appeal lodged by Zorana Banic (51), sentenced to
13 years in prison for war crimes against civilians in Skabrnja, Zadar
hinterland, in November 1991.#L#
The panel of judges, presided by Judge Marijan Svedrovic, is making a
decision on the appeal behind closed doors. The decision will be made
public after it is received in writing by the parties concerned.
Judge Hajrija Novoselec informed the panel of judges at the open part
of the session about the most important facts concerning the case and
the appeal. Zorana Banic was represented by her Zagreb attorney Luka
Susak, and the prosecution was represented by Deputy Chief State
Prosecutor Slavko Zadnik.
The defence requested that the Supreme Court acquit their client or
quash the initial verdict and order a retrial. If the court confirms
the verdict, the defence will move that it be reduced.
The defence said in the appeal that Banic had not planned, ordered or
carried out the crimes from the indictment because she was not in
Skabrnja at the time stated in the indictment.
Her attorney asked, among other things, that the case be transferred
to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
Last October, the Zadar County Court found Banic, a nurse from Zemunik
Gornji, guilty of taking part in war crimes against civilians in
Skabrnja.
She had already been sentenced to 20 years in prison in absence back
in 1998, together with another 17 members of Croatian Serb
paramilitary units and the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). When
she was arrested in Switzerland in October 2001 under an international
arrest warrant and transferred to Croatia, she requested a retrial, to
which she was entitled by law.
During the retrial, the Zadar County Court established that as a
member of the so-called Army of the Serb Autonomous Region of Kajina
on 18 November 1991 Banic had forcibly rounded up civilians, mostly
elderly people and children, in Skabrnja, and participated in the
murder of 34 civilians.
The trial, which saw the testimonies of 54 witnesses, failed to show
evidence of Banic having personally killed anyone. The verdict was
based on testimonies by a number of witnesses and the court did not
accept the defence's claim that the accused was not in Skabrnja on the
day stated in the indictment.
(Hina) rml sb