Crime in Stara Gradiška (defendant Milan Španović)
Trial against Milan Španović, charged with a war crime against civilians referred to in Article 120 § 1 of the OKZRH.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Požega County Court
Case No.: K.42/97
Trial Council: judge Predrag Dragičević, Council President, judge Ljiljana Štirmer, Council Member, jurors Dragutin Mostarkić, Nikola Ivaniš and Mijo Jurišić, Council Members
Indictment: No. KT-75/96-9 of 16 May 1997 issued by the Požega ŽDO
Criminal offence: war crime against civilians referred to in Article 120 § 1 of the OKZRH
Defendant: Milan Španović, unavailable to Croatian judiciary
Defence counsel: Hrvoje Messing, lawyer practicing in Požega, court-appointed counsel
Victims – maltreated: Luka Filipović, Josip Kvočić, Đuro Bogunović and Željko Grgić
VERDICT (SUMMARY)
On 5 June 1997, the Požega County Court rendered a verdict in which accused person Milan Španović was found guilty that in his capacity as member of paramilitary formations of the so-called SAO Krajina, during 1991 in Stara Gradiška during interrogation of captured Croatian ethnicity population, he was torturing and maltreating imprisoned Luka Filipović, Josip Kvočić and Đuro Bogunović and threatened Željko Grgić.
The defendant was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Požega County Court’s verdict no. K.42/97-9 of 5 June 1997 can be viewed (in Croatian) here.
Trial against Milan Španović, because of the maltreatment of Croatian civilians kept in the prison in Stara Gradiška, was conducted in the Republic of Serbia and defendant Španović attended the trial. On 25 June 2010, the Higher Court in Belgrade rendered the verdict in which it found the defendant guilty and sentenced him to five years in prison. This verdict was confirmed on 24 January 2011.
