http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8040207.stm
Page last updated at 13:49 GMT, Friday, 8 May 2009 14:49 UK
Croatian MP jailed for war crimes
Branimir Glavas in uniform (2007)
Branimir Glavas says the charges of war crimes were politically
motivated
A far-right Croat MP has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for war
crimes against Serb civilians during Croatia's war of independence in
the early 1990s.
A court in Zagreb found Branimir Glavas had given orders to a
paramilitary unit under his command to murder six Serbs in the
eastern city of Osijek in 1991.
The former general was charged last year after the Croatian
parliament partially lifted his legal immunity.
Glavas denies any wrongdoing and says his trial was politically
motivated.
He blames the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), from which he
was expelled in 2006 after clashing with Prime Minister Ivo Sanader.
Immunity
During the trial, prosecutors accused Glavas, 51, of ordering members
of a paramilitary unit to abduct, torture and murder six Serbs in
Osijek in late 1991, when he was in command of the city's defence
forces.
The civilians were taken to the banks of the Drava river with their
mouths taped and hands and feet tied, then shot and dumped into the
water, they said.
Pathologist exhumes bodies in Osijek (22 December 2006)
Some 20,000 people are believed to have been killed in the war in
Croatia
Glavas was also accused of failing to prevent the killings of two
other Serbs, one of whom was forced to drink battery acid before
being shot dead.
Five former members of the Osijek paramilitary unit were also found
guilty of war crimes on Friday and sentenced to between five and
seven years in prison.
Glavas was not in the courtroom to hear the verdict and will not be
placed in custody until his appeal is held, unless the Croatian
parliament's privileges committee says he should be. A decision is
expected soon.
The former general was first charged with war crimes in April 2007
after his immunity from prosecution was lifted by the last parliament.
However, in November that year he was re-elected - this time as a
candidate for his right-wing HSSSB party - and temporarily regained
his immunity.
Croatia's 1991 declaration of independence from the former Yugoslavia
sparked a revolt by its ethnic Serbs, who were backed by the Serb-
dominated federal military and Belgrade.
The war ended in 1995, after Croatian forces re-took Serb-held
territories. Some 20,000 people are believed to have been killed.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
