Yugoslav Wars

When the trial of a group of Serb fighters accused of the abductions and killings of passengers who were seized from a train in Bosnia during the war in 1993 continues at Belgrade Higher Court next month, there will be one fewer defendant in the dock.

Listening to reports from other towns in Bosnia, he hoped the war would stop soon. However, in the conflict that soon spread to Prijedor, Hukanovic and his son were arrested and taken from their home to the infamous Bosnian Serb-run Omarska detention camp on May 30, 1992.

He has never figured out why his young son was also arrested.

Croatia's political leadership, wartime generals and war veterans gathered on Thursday in the town of Knin to mark the anniversary of the victorious military offensive, Operation Storm, that practically ended the independence war in the country in 1995.

Part of the ceremony took place at the Knin Fortress, while another part was held at the town's football stadium.

The Appeals Court in Belgrade told BIRN that it has partially upheld an appeal from former Bosnian Serb Army soldier Dragomir Kezunovic and given him a lower sentence of five years in prison for crimes committed during the Bosnian war.

A law that will grant benefits to civilian victims of the 1991-95 war was adopted by Croatian MPs on Thursday with 107 votes in favour, 16 against and five abstentions.

It was passed after heated discussions in parliament about whether the law would also give benefits to people who were part of 'enemy' Serb forces during the war.

Velic had fled to Srebrenica with her husband and children after her home village of Pobudje, near Bratunac, had come under fire.

But when Bosnian Serb forces seized Srebrenica on July 11, 1995, she and her family had to flee again.

"I thought: 'People will not survive, they will kill us.' And so they did," she recalled.

Zagreb-based NGO Documenta - Centre for Dealing with the Past and the Serbian National Council, which represents the Serb minority in Croatia, launched a media campaign on Thursday entitled 'Justice for Victims', supporting the government's plan to pass legislation that will grant benefits to civilian victims of the 1991-95 war.

Ljubljana – Thirty years to the day, the Brijuni Declaration was adopted, ending hostilities between Yugoslav and Slovenian forces in the ten-day independence war and suspending Slovenia’s independence activities for three months. It was the first international agreement between Slovenia and the EU’s predecessor, the European Economic Community (EEC).

A senior official from the Serbian State Security Service, Franko 'Frenki' Simatovic, arrived at a covert paramilitary training camp near the town of Ilok in Croatia in the spring of 1992 - one of many that would allegedly be set up by Serbian security officials during the wars that erupted as Yugoslavia collapsed.

Bosnia's top court has rejected an appeal filed by Zoran Babic in September 2019 with the Constitutional Court against a verdict passed down in May that year in which he said his right to a fair defence had been violated.

Under the verdict, the Appeals Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced him to 13 years in prison for a "crime against humanity".