Wars of independence

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.

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).

Stanisic and Simatovic are charged with war crimes in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1991 and 1995.

• Stanisic, the former head of Serbian State Security, and Simatovic, his former deputy, are being retried for participating in a 'joint criminal enterprise' to remove non-Serbs from areas of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• Both men are accused of organising and financing Serb armed units that committed crimes during the Croatian and Bosnian wars from 1991 to 1995.

The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals in The Hague will hand down its verdict on Wednesday in the retrial of former Serbian State Security officials Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic, who are accused of controlling Serb fighters who committed crimes during the Croatian and Bosnian wars.

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.

The first-instance verdict in the retrial of Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic in The Hague is scheduled for June 30, the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals said on Thursday.

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, sentenced to life for war crimes and genocide, will serve his sentence in a UK prison, the British government announced on Wednesday. Karadzic, 75, is one of the chief architects of the slaughter and devastation of Bosnia's 1992-95 war, AP recalls.

Human Rights House Zagreb said in its annual report published on Thursday that there has been "no significant progress in the prosecution of war crimes in 2020" in Croatia.

Closing arguments in the case against former Serbian State Security officials Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic, who are accused of controlling Serb fighters who committed crimes during the Croatian and Bosnian wars, are being heard from Monday to Wednesday at the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals in The Hague.