GLINA

Croatia's Serbian National Council, SNV and the NGO Documenta - Centre for Dealing with the Past on Thursday commemorated the deaths of around 400 Serbs who were killed by Nazi-allied Ustasa members under the World War II-era Independent State of Croatia in the town of Glina 80 years ago.

Former Serb paramilitary fighter Zoran Roksandic was sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison for committing a war crime by killing a female civilian and attempting to murder of her husband in a village near the central Croatian town of Glina in 1991, Croatian media reported on Tuesday.

More than a month after a powerful earthquake hit central Croatia, lawmakers on Friday will vote on amendments to the post-earthquake reconstruction law - amid complaints that the basic needs of many people in the affected areas have still not been met.

The Croatian Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime, USKOK, announced on Monday that it will instruct the police to investigate suspicions of possible negligence and other failings during the post-war reconstruction of buildings that were badly damaged by the powerful earthquake that hit the Banovina area of Sisak-Moslavina county in central Croatia last week.

Another earthquake was felt at around 7:50 am in the area of Petrinja and the surrounding area, with a magnitude of 4.5 on the Richter scale.
The quake was also felt in Zagreb, reports Index.hr.

According to the latest information, seven people were killed, including two children. There are two Serbs among them, said the president of the Serbian National Council, Milorad Pupovac.

Former Serbian paramilitary commander Dragan Vasiljkovic, alias Captain Dragan, who was convicted of committing war crimes against Croatian civilians and prisoners of war in 1991, was released from Lepoglava prison in northern Croatia on Saturday morning after serving his 13-and-a-half-year sentence.

The county court in the Croatian city of Varazdin on Friday rejected a request for the early release of former Serbian paramilitary commander Dragan Vasiljkovic, widely known as Captain Dragan.

Vasiljkovic applied for conditional release because he has served two-thirds of his sentence.

Dragan Vasiljkovic, aka Kapetan (Captain) Dragan, was on Tuesday sentenced to 15 years in prison by a Croatian court.

The court in the town of Split found him guilty on charges of war crimes committed against Croat soldiers and civilians in the 1990s.

A group of Croatian 1990s war veterans shouted and insulted speakers at a commemoration for Serb civilians killed by the WWII fascist Ustasa movement in the town of Glina.