They were acquitted in a retrial held before the county court in the northern city of Varazdin. The ruling may be appealed. The four indictees were also acquitted at their first trial in Bjelovar in December 2001.
According to the indictment, upon the takeover of the barracks, seven JNA members were arrested and taken to the Bjelovar police station in which a civilian, Savo Kovac, had already been detained. The eight detainees were then taken to the Cesma woods near the village of Mali Korenov where they were killed. Savo Kovac survived the execution, sustaining serious injuries.
Explaining the ruling, a Varazdin County Court judge said that during the trial it was not proved that the four men had committed the crimes for which they were indicted.
It was established that the seven POWs and Kovac had been taken to the Bjelovar police station and that they had been taken from the station to the woods where they, except Kovac, were shot dead.
It was disputable, however, whether these indictees had any connections with that event. There is no valid evidence directly or indirectly linking the four indictees to the crime, according to the court's ruling.
Kovac could not identify any of the four indictees.