JURIST - Paper Chase: Serbia war crimes court convicts Croatian Serb in Vukovar killings

[JURIST] The War Crimes Council of the Belgrade District Court [official website, in Serbian] convicted a Croatian Serb of war crimes Tuesday for his involvement in the death of 200 Croatian POWs [BBC backgrounder] in 1991, sentencing him to 20 years in prison. Damir Sireta [case materials, in Serbian] was originally charged [indictment, DOC, in Serbian] with violating Articles 22 and 144 of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Criminal Code [text] for his involvement in the killings that took place at a pig farm outside of the Croatian town of Vukovar [JURIST news archive]. At the time of the killings, Sireta was a member of the Vukovar Territorial Defense division of the former Yugoslav People's Army.

In March, 13 Serbs were convicted [JURIST report] for their involvement in the massacre and sentenced to terms ranging from five to 20 years. Originally, 18 Serbs were charged for the incident but charges against two of them were dropped. Fourteen of the men were eventually found guilty in 2005, but the Serbian Supreme Court vacated that verdict in 2006 and ordered a retrial [JURIST reports].

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