Croatian War of Independence

The Croatian State Attorney's Office in the city of Osijek said on Wednesday that it has indicted a former member of Serb paramilitary forces for involvement in the torture and murder of a minor after the occupation of the town of Vukovar in November 1991.

The unnamed suspect, a 70-year-old citizen of Croatia and Canada, is being held in custody due to the risk that he might flee.

Croatian police said on Tuesday that they have filed a criminal charge accusing an unnamed 73-year-old Croatian citizen of committing a war crime by killing a civilian in the village of Darda in eastern Croatia in March 1992.

Tudjman's statement was a response to international pressure to amend a law that restricted the return of property to Serbs who had been expelled or fled the country after the Croatian military's Operation Storm in August that year.

Although five potential war crimes cases were initially investigated by the North Macedonia's authorities in 2002, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, then took over the cases.

The Croatian Supreme Court announced on Thursday that it has confirmed the verdict convicting former Serb paramilitaries Dusan Zarkovic, Bogdan Jednak and Dusan Martic in their absence of the killings of Croatian civilians.

It said that it had also accepted an appeal from the state attorney and increased the men's sentences from ten to 15 years in prison.

She said that after the relaxation of the pandemic restrictions, the court decided that trials of up to five defendants could start again on June 1. Those hearings will be conducted in two biggest courtrooms in the state court building in Sarajevo, where appropriate distance between all the participants can be ensured.

According to the Bosnian Missing Persons Institute, 102 Bosnian citizens, including Andrea Beganovic, were reported missing in neighbouring Croatia as a result of the war in the 1990s.

"Out of that number, 46 victims have been found, exhumed and identified so far, while the search for 56 people continues," said Missing Persons Institute spokesperson Emza Fazlic.

The Croatian Supreme Court announced on Tuesday that it has confirmed the verdict sentencing former army officer Josip Krmpotic to three years in prison for committing war crimes against civilians during the 'Medak Pocket' operation in southern Croatia, but acquitting him of failing to prevent the killing of prisoners of war.

Miletic is serving his sentence in a prison in Finland.

The Association of Defence Counsel Practising Before the International Courts and Tribunals urged the UN's Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals in The Hague on Friday to free elderly war crime convicts to help ensure that they are not infected with the COVID-19 virus.