VUKOVAR VUKOVAR, April 16 (Hina) - The verdict in the case of Dragisa Cancarevic, former commander of the 4th police station in Vukovar's Borovo Naselje, who was found guilty of charges and sentenced to 13 years in prison on Friday,
has to date been the eighth final verdict in war crimes trials in Vukovar. Since October 1997, the county court in the war-hit eastern Croatian town of Vukovar has accused 156 people of war crimes. Most accused are of the Serb descent, and just 17 of them have to date been available to the court. So far, eight indictees have received final verdicts and they are in jail. For the rest of nine, trials are either under way or the judgement is not final. They are charged of genocide, war crimes against civilians or against prisoners-of-war and murder. To date, Vukovar-Sirmium police have pressed charges against 544 persons suspected of war crimes. They are grouped in 41 cases. In the las
VUKOVAR, April 16 (Hina) - The verdict in the case of Dragisa
Cancarevic, former commander of the 4th police station in Vukovar's
Borovo Naselje, who was found guilty of charges and sentenced to 13
years in prison on Friday, has to date been the eighth final verdict
in war crimes trials in Vukovar.
Since October 1997, the county court in the war-hit eastern
Croatian town of Vukovar has accused 156 people of war crimes. Most
accused are of the Serb descent, and just 17 of them have to date
been available to the court.
So far, eight indictees have received final verdicts and they are in
jail. For the rest of nine, trials are either under way or the
judgement is not final.
They are charged of genocide, war crimes against civilians or
against prisoners-of-war and murder.
To date, Vukovar-Sirmium police have pressed charges against 544
persons suspected of war crimes. They are grouped in 41 cases. In
the last six months the police arrested 19 persons on the basis of
war crimes. However, most suspects have fled Croatia.
The local office of the State Prosecutor has said it is processing
19 cases with 349 persons under suspicion of war crimes. For
instance, one case includes 198 persons who were a part of "the
military component of the 1991 attacks against Vukovar, including
highest-ranking Serb commanders who conducted military operations
in Croatia."
The eastern Croatian town of Vukovar bore the brunt of the 1991
offensive of Serb rebels, supported by the then Yugoslav People's
Army (JNA). When the town fell in the hands of Serb rebels and the
JNA soldiers in the mid-November 1991, horrendous war atrocities
were committed. According to incomplete data, during the battle of
Vukovar, 1,100 civilians and some 600 defenders lost their lives.
More than 4,000 people were wounded, between three and five
thousand taken prisoner and several thousand people either went
missing or were displaced.
Vukovar and the Danube river area were reintegrated into Croatia
during the process of the peaceful reintegration, which was
conducted with assistance of UN and which was completed in January
1998.
(hina) ms