Biweekly Report on War Crime Trials / July 2013

European arrest warrant and war crimes / At the end of June 2013, several days prior to the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union, the Law on Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters with the European Union Member States was amended. Despite the disapproval of the European Commission, the amendments prescribed that the Republic of Croatia would execute the European arrest warrant only in cases of criminal offences committed after 07 August 2002.

Higher Court in Belgrade: The person participating in executions at Ovčara sentenced to 15 years in prison / On 01 July 2013, the trial chamber of the Belgrade Higher Court War Crimes Department sentenced the former member of the Vukovar Territorial Defence Petar Ćirić to 15 years in prison for participating in abuse and executions of prisoners of war at the Ovčara commercial farm near Vukovar on 20 November/21 November 1991.

For efficient prosecution of the persons suspected of rape, it is necessary for the judicial bodies of Croatia and Serbia to bring their views closer together and agree upon the legal interpretations.

ICTY – credibility and legacy / Allegations made by judge Harhoff call for investigation of events at the ICTY – More than a hundred persons from public sphere, representatives of the media and civil society organisations from the countries in the region have sent an open letter to the UN Secretary General requesting an investigation into the allegations made by the ICTY judge Frederik Harhoff on an undue influence exerted by the ICTY President Theodor Meron on the Tribunal judges in order for them to pass politically motivated judgments.

Availability of the ICTY’s data base to the prosecutors’ offices in the region – one of prerequisites for a more efficient crime prosecution / Prosecution of a large number of still non-investigated war crimes will also depend to a great extent on the availability of documents comprised by the ICTY data base to the prosecutors’ offices of the countries in the region. It is essential to define the most purposeful and the most appropriate methods of cooperation which would enable the local prosecutors (state attorneys) to gain a quick and unrestricted access to the required documents.

In the attachment below, there is the electronic version of the report.