Persons indicted

4

Rank(s) of person(s) indicted

lower police officers

Indictment date

06/23/2010

Case stage

finally resolved

Duration of proceedings since trial commencement

5 years 7 months

Witnesses examined

68

Date and outcome of the first instance verdict

06/19/2021

First-instance judgment / years in prison:
AA: 20
AB: 10
AV: 5
AG: 1.5

Date and outcome of decision on appeal

03/29/2013

Decision on appeal:
AA, AB and AV: first-instance judgment abolished and new trial ordered
AG: first-instance judgment confirmed

Date and outcome of verdict in new trial

05/29/2015

On completion of repeated proceedings, the Higher Court in Belgrade found that over the period between August and December 1991, defendant AA - at the relevant time member of the Special Police force in Beli Manastir - had engaged in the torture and inhumane treatment of Croat civilians confined in the detention centre in Beli Manastir, Croatia. Three defendants (AB, AV and AG) were found guilty of the killing of 4 Croat civilians. Additionally, the Higher Court found defendant AA guilty of the killing of another Croat civilian and grave wounding of two. The parties lodged appeals against the decision, but the same were dismissed by the Appellate Court.

Criminal offence

war crime against civilian population under art. 142 (1) re art. 22 (co-perpetration) of the FRY Criminal Act

Background facts

On completion of repeated proceedings, the Higher Court in Belgrade found that over the period between August and December 1991, defendant AA, at the relevant time member of the Special Police force in Beli Manastir, had engaged in the torture and inhumane treatment of a number of Croat civilians confined in the detention centre in Beli Manastir, Croatia. Three defendants (AA, AB and AV) were found guilty of the killing of 4 Croat civilians. Additionally, the Higher Court found defendant AA guilty of the killing of one Croat civilian and grave wounding of two.

Procedural remarks

In 2008, pursuant to the Agreement on Cooperation in Prosecuting Perpetrators of War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and Genocide, signed by Serbia and Croatia in 2006, the Office of the Croatian State Prosecutor provided the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor with evidence relevant to the Beli Manastir case.