According to the verdict the Split County Court announced a year ago, the first defendant, Tomislav Duic, who was prison commander, and the second defendant, Tonci Vrkic, were each sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. Davor Banic was sentenced to seven years, while Miljenko Bajic, Josip Bikic, Emilio Bungur, Ante Gudic and Andjelko Botic each received a six-year prison term.
According to the decision which the Supreme Court made on 6 February this year and published on its website on Monday, the defence teams' appeals were turned down.
Since the start of the trial in September 2005, three defendants have been in custody: Vrkic, Gudic and Botic. Banic turned himself in to the judicial authorities a month later, while the other four defendants are still on the run and warrants for their arrest have been issued.
The Split County Court also decided that the time the accused Vrkic, Gudic, Botic and Banic spent in detention will be credited towards their sentences. The facts that they participated in the defence of the country since the start of the Serb armed aggression and that they were family men with small children were taken as mitigating circumstances.
At the trial before a Split County Court panel of judges, presided by Judge Spomenka Tonkovic, it was established that the defendants were found guilty of beating and torturing the prisoners. Two Serb civilians, Nenad Knezevic and Gojko Bulovic, died as a result of the beatings in mid-June 1992 following a failed attempt by Knezevic to escape.
The eight policemen were acquitted at an initial trial in 2002. The Supreme Court overturned the acquittal in 2005 and referred the case back to the same court for a retrial before a new panel of judges.
Investigative proceedings in another case of war crimes against prisoners of war in the Lora military prison in 1992 are still under way. In this case, the five suspects - Duic, who used to be the commander of the Lora investigating centre, his deputy Vrkic and guards Bungur, Gudic and Botic are charged with war crimes against POWs. The charges include inhumane treatment of about 30 POWs which resulted in the death of three.