Wars of independence

Šešelj seeks EUR 12mn compensation for wrongful detention

THE HAGUE -- Vojislav Šešelj has requested EUR 12 million in compensation from the Hague Tribunal (ICTY) for what he claims is wrongful detention by the court.

The leader of the Serb Radical Party (SRS), accused of war crimes, has been incarcerated since early 2003.

Former police commander Vladimir Milankovic, convicted of offences that led to the deaths of 24 Serb civilians in Sisak during wartime, had his sentence increased from eight to ten years.

A Bosnian Serb lieutenant-colonel told Ratko Mladic’s war crimes trial that he ordered an attack on Radio Television Sarajevo in 1995 because it was broadcasting ‘propaganda’ against Serbs.

Former soldier Velibor Solaja was acquitted of killing of an elderly female civilian during the Croatian Army’s controversial ‘Medak Pocket’ operation against Serb forces in September 1993.

A former policeman on trial for a notorious massacre of Serb civilians in the Croatian village of Grubori in 1995 said that his anti-terrorist unit was not involved in the murders.

Belgrade prosecutors and police officials working on an investigation into the wartime killings of Bosniaks said that they have been threatened by former Bosnian Serb fighters.

The Bosnian prosecution will soon file two indictments over war crimes against Serbs as a result of cooperation agreed with Belgrade in a landmark protocol signed last year.

Hearings in Croatia-Serbia genocide lawsuits conclude

THE HAGUE -- The hearing concerning the mutual charges of genocide between Croatia and Serbia held before the International Court of Justice was completed on Tuesday.

"Borders will not be redrawn in Balkans"

SARAJEVO -- The British foreign minister says there will be no more drawing of borders in the Balkans and that only a united Bosnia in its present borders can join the EU.

A former member of paramilitary chief Zeljko Raznatovic’s notorious ‘Arkan’s Tigers’ unit was convicted in his absence of war crimes against Croatian civilians near the village of Drinovci in 1992.