Ciric sentenced to 15 years in prison for Ovcara crime

BELGRADE - The Appellate Court in Belgrade sentenced Petar Ciric, former member of the Vukovar Territorial Defence, to 15 years in prison for participating in the war crime at the Ovcara farm near Vukovar where a least 193 prisoners of war, members of the Croatian Armed Forces, were tortured and killed on November 21, 1991.

This verdict includes a 10-year sentence he faced before the District Court in Novi Sad, reads the website of the Appellate Court.

The Appellate Court upheld the appeal by the war crime prosecutor and reviewed the first instance sentence of 20 years in prison, which also included the sentence of 10 years in jail.

According to the Appellate Court, the first instance court violated the criminal law sentencing the suspect to a single sentence of 20 years in prison, while according to the law that was in force at the time, the single sentence could not exceed 15 years in prison.

Ciric was sentence along with members of his Territorial Defence unit and members of the Leva supoderica mercenary unit for inflicting major bodily injuries to members of the Croatian Armed Forces.

The prisoners of war belong to the Croatian militia and mercenary units, who previously surrendered to members of the Yugoslav Armed Forces in the Vukovar hospital, and then they were handed over to the Vukovar Territorial Defence.

So far, the Serbian War Crime Prosecutor's Office has charged 20 suspects with the murder of over 200 Croat prisoners of war.

Sentences have been passed on 15 persons totaling 207 years in prison, while five suspects were cleared of charges.