- Title: CROATIA: SIX MEN TO BE TRIED IN CONNECTION WITH 1991 VUKOVAR MASSACRE
- Date: 9th March 2004
- Summary: (U3) VUKOVAR, CROATIA (FILE - 1991) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS VIEWS OF ATTACK ON VUKOVAR / AUDIO OF GUNFIRE 2. A COMMANDER OF YUGOSLAV JNA FORCES IN VUKOVAR, TALKING TO REPRESENTATIVES OF THE RED CROSS 3. MORE VIEWS OF ATTACK ON VUKOVAR 4. FIGHTING SCENES IN VUKOVAR 5. A FORMER YUGOSLAV ARMY OFFICER, DURING FIGHTING IN VUKOVAR IN NOVEMBER 1991, SPEAKING OVER A RADIO RECEIVER SAYING (Serbian) "VUKOVAR MUST FALL TONIGHT" 6. WIDE VIEW OF HOSPITAL IN VUKOVAR 1.07 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 24th March 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VUKOVAR, CROATIA
- Country: Croatia
- Reuters ID: LVAAPL6H9T7KG7UBWADS46BU4UG1
- Story Text: Six men to be tried in connection with 1991 Vukovar
massacre.
Six men were to face a special court on Tuesday
(March 9, 2004) charged with the 1991 massacre of at least 192
prisoners of war in Vukovar, Croatia, in a landmark trial
that will test Serbia's ability to dispense justice for war
crimes.
"This is the first such trial in Yugoslavia because it
is a case which The Hague tribunal has addressed to
domestic courts. This is a test of the local judiciary,"
said court spokesman Bruno Vekaric before the trial began.
While the flames of ultra-nationalism which fed the
bloody 1990s breakup of Yugoslavia were still hot, the U.N.
war crimes tribunal was unwilling to trust former foes
Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia with the task of judging alleged
war criminals, who might be viewed as avenging heroes among
their own people.
Eight years have passed since fighting stopped and
Vekaric said the new court's prosecutor would be exercising
"the highest level of professionalism without any political
influence".
The tribunal, in its most recent indictments, has
focused on those viewed as the instigators of Balkan
genocide and ethnic cleansing, and those at the top of the
chain of command.
Local courts in the countries involved in the 1990s
wars are now being given responsibility for trying
individual alleged killers, with The Hague's help.
Three ex-Yugoslav army officers, the so-called Vukovar
Three, are already awaiting trial at the United Nations war
crimes tribunal in The Hague for complicity in the same act
as those now on trial in Belgrade.
The special court in December indicted eight men "as
members of Vukovar territorial defence" for slaughtering
prisoners of war at Ovcara farm near the eastern Croatian
town of Vukovar. One of the accused died on Monday (March
8), weeks after a suicide bid, and another has turned
state's witness.
The Croat and other non-Serb victims, nearly all men,
were taken from a hospital and executed after Yugoslav
troops captured Vukovar following long and fierce fighting
during the 1991-95 Croatian war of independence.
The 1991 massacre near the picturesque Danube town
reduced the area to rubble after weeks of shelling, its
swimming pool water turned black with blood.
Hundreds of people including families of medical staff
and Croat soldiers had packed into the local hospital with
many wounded, seeking refuge from the siege, according to
U.N. prosecutors.
In a bid to show its determination to tackle the legacy
of Slobodan Milosevic's rule, Serbia in 2002 passed
legislation setting up a special prosecutor's office and a
court to handle crimes committed during the Balkan wars of
the 1990s.
Newly appointed Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav
Kostunica has said The Hague tribunal is biased against
Serbs, and he wants all Serbs tried at home.
His conservative-led minority coalition relies on the
support of Milosevic's Socialist Party, which has
threatened to withdraw its backing for Kostunica the minute
another Serb is extradited to The Hague.
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