Crime in Medak
On 23 June 2010, the Higher Court in Belgrade pronounced the first instance verdict (verdict before appeal) finding the defendants Milorad Lazić, Mirko Marunić and Nikola Konjević guilty of war crime against war prisoners that was committed in 1991 in Medak near Gospić. The defendant Perica Đaković was acquitted of charges.
On 19 January 2011, the War Crimes Chamber of the Belgrade Appeals Court reached a verdict by which it upheld the first-instance verdict in the case of Milorad Lazić, Mirko Marunić and Nikola Konjević, and it quashed the first-instance verdict and remanded the case for retrial in the case of Perica Đaković.
After conducted repeated trial at the Belgrade Higher Court on 1 July 2011, the verdict was pronounced acquitting Perica Đaković once again.
INDICTMENT (SUMMARY)
The Indictment of the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia issued on 6 October 2009 charged the defendants Milorad Lazić, Perica Đaković, Nikola Vujnović, Mirko Marunić and Nikola Konjević with a war crime against war prisoners. The defendants were accused that in the period between 3 and 8 September 1991, in the premises of police station of the so called SAO Krajina, they tortured Mirko Medunić who was a detained member of the Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia. They thereby committed a war crime against war prisoners under Article 144 of the Criminal Code of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (KZ SRJ).
You can see the Indictment (in Serbian language) here.
On 2 June 2010, the prosecutor dropped charges against Nikola Vujnović.
VERDICT
On 23 June 2010, the Panel of the Higher Court pronounced the first instance verdict in which the defendants Lazić and Konjević were sentenced to 3 years in prison, and the defendant Marunić was sentenced to 2 years. The defendant Đaković was acquitted of charges.
On 19 January 2011, the War Crimes Chamber of the Belgrade Appeals Court reached a verdict by which it upheld the first-instance verdict in the case of Milorad Lazić, Mirko Marunić and Nikola Konjević, and it quashed the first-instance verdict and remanded the case for retrial in the case of Perica Đaković.
After conducted repeated trial at the Belgrade Higher Court on 1 July 2011, the verdict was pronounced acquitting Perica Đaković once again.
