JURIST - Paper Chase: ICTY Vukovar massacre sentences too lenient: Croatia

[JURIST] Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader [official website] has criticized the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] for its judgments [JURIST report] on Serb suspects allegedly involved in the 1991 Vukovar massacre [BBC backgrounder], saying in a letter sent Friday to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the ICTY failed to act in a "balanced and impartial way" and calling for a review of the court's judgments. The ICTY convicted Mile Mrksic on three counts of war crimes last Thursday, sentencing him to 20 years in prison for his involvement in the killing of approximately 200 Croatians. Another defendant received a five-year sentence on aiding and abetting charges, while a third defendant was acquitted on all counts. Croatian President Stipe Mesic, known to be a supporter of the ICTY, said that his own confidence in the ICTY has been eroded.

In December, the Serbian Supreme Court ordered a retrial [JURIST report] in the case of 14 former members of Serb militias who were originally convicted [JURIST report] of war crimes for their roles in the Vukovar massacre. The Serbian judicial proceedings, which opened in March 2004 [JURIST report], have been seen as a test of Serbia's domestic war crimes process. AP has more.

For a one-stop snapshot of the latest legal news that matters, with breaking documents, new legal videos, live law-related webcasts, commentary by expert law professors and more - all updated through the day in real time, with no ads and no registration barriers - visit JURIST's homepage and check back often...