[Nettime-bold] Re: Former Croat Military Police Sentenced for War Crimes

["Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>]

I would need to know more about the particular case to be able to 
express outrage over the sentencing. On one hand it is good that 
trials like that do take place and that the war crimes suspects are 
at least arraigned in Croatia, unlike in some other post-Yugoslav 
societies. On the other hand, 1 year in prison for torture and 
murder, by all standards would be a pretty mild sentence, I agree. 
But, then - the victims bodies were not found. In a more outrageous 
scenario, the suspects could have been acquitted on lack of 
evidence, couldn't they?

Andras wrote:
"One would think war crimes, committed by soldiers in uniform
against non-combatants, would be regarded as more serious than 
analogous acts in peacetime."
I am not the one who thinks that way. I am the one who hopes that 
such thinking would become a standard in the future. But statistics 
of our history so far shows that crimes, committed by soldiers in 
uniform, are generally regarded less serious, and punished more 
leniently (if at all) than analogous acts in peacetime. How many US 
soldiers went to prison for killing they did in Vietnam, for example? 
And some of that killing was killing of non-combatants, that, 
indeed, on occassions, involved torture. How many Russians would 
go in prison for killing they do in Chechnya? I could go on with 
examples...

ivo


Date sent:      	Fri, 25 Jan 2002 08:22:20 -0500
Send reply to:  	International Justice Watch Discussion List
             	<JUSTWATCH-L@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU>
From:           	Andras Riedlmayer <riedlmay@FAS.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject:        	Former Croat Military Police Sentenced for War Crimes
To:             	JUSTWATCH-L@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU

(cross-posting of comments only permitted)

Not a good day for justice in Croatia. A Croatian county court found
three former Croatian military policemen guilty in a case involving
the illegal detention, torture and killings of ethnic Serb civilians
near Bjelovar in 1991 ... but then sentenced the defendants to minimum
terms of one year in prison.

   The judge explained that he decided on minimum sentences because
   "[the defendants] were Homeland War defenders who committed crimes
   during war circumstances".

The judge's suggestion that criminal acts are somehow more excusable
because they were committed by men in uniform in time of war seems
bizarre.  One would think war crimes, committed by soldiers in uniform
against non-combatants, would be regarded as more serious than analogous
acts in peacetime.  Those Croatian veteran organizations who are ever
on the alert to defend the honour and dignity of Croatia's Homeland War
against insult should be out on the streets protesting against this
demeaning decision.

Andras Riedlmayer
======================================================================
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
January 25, 2002

Former Croat Military Police Sentenced for War Crimes

   ZAGREB, Jan 25 (dpa) -- Three former Croatian military policemen were
handed minimum one-year prison sentences Thursday in the northeastern town
of Bjelovar for crimes committed during the 1991 war, HINA news agency
reported.

   The county court found them guilty of illegal arrests and torture which
led to deaths of an unknown number of the Croatian Serb civilians near
Bjelovar.

   The judge explained that he decided on minimum sentences because
"they were Homeland War defenders who committed crimes during war
circumstances".

   The judge also said there had not been enough evidence to convict the
three on murder charges the bodies of the Serbs involved had not been
found.

   "Homeland War" is euphemism in Croatia for the war of independence from
Belgrade which broke out in 1991. Former policemen were detained last
October over the killing of six prisoners of war and a civilian.

   The crimes took place in the base of the former Yugoslav National Army
(JNA) in Bjelovar after the Yugoslav National Army garrison there turned
itself in to the Croat troops in the autumn of 1991.

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