Crime in Zamlača, Struga and Kozibrod II
On 8 June 2009, the main hearing was held at the Sisak County Court in the trial against the defendant Predrag Orlović et al., charged with committing the criminal act of war crime against civilians referred to in Article 120, paragraph 1 of the Basic Criminal Law of the RoC (hereinafter: the OKZ RH).
Following the separation of the procedure in relation to the defendants Simo Gaić, Đorđe Borojević and Zoran Tadić and the modification of the indictment (re-qualification to armed rebellion) in relation to the three of them, a verdict was passed which rejected the indictment by way of applying the General Amnesty Act.
INDICTMENT (SUMMARY)
The defendants were charged that on 26 July 1991 in the villages of Zamlača, Struga and Kozibrod, having previously joined the paramilitary formations of the so-called “Krajina Militia”, all armed with heavy weaponry and with the intention of subverting the newly-established democratic society of the RoC, attempting to secede the area of Kostajnica and Dvor municipalities from the RoC and join them to the para-state of the so-called “SAO Krajina”, they entered the aforementioned villages, expelled the population from those villages, exclusively of the Croatian ethnicity, brought this population in front of themselves as the living shield, burned the houses and demolished them by explosive devices and then, unprovoked, they fired rifle shots at the unarmed population, whereby they murdered numerous civilians.
You can read the indictment issued by the Sisak District State’s Attorney’s Office (hereinafter: the ŽDO) No. KT-61/93 of 4 November 1994 against Predrag Orlović et al. here (2.523 KB). (in Croatian)
GENERAL DATA
Sisak County Court
War Crime Council: Judge Melita Avedić, Council President; Judge Predrag Jovanić, Council member and Judge Višnja Vukić, Council member
Case number: K-45/94
Indictment: issued by the Sisak ŽDO, No. KT-61/93 of 4 November 1994, modified on 8 June 2009
Criminal act: war crime against civilians referred to in Article 120, paragraph 1 of the OKZRH; following the separation of the procedure in relation to the defendants Simo Gaić, Đorđe Borojević and Zoran Tadić it was modified (in relation to the three of them) to the criminal act of armed rebellion referred to in Article 236 f, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of the RoC (hereinafter: the KZRH).
Prosecuting attorney: Jadranka Huskić, Sisak County Deputy State’s Attorney
Defendants: the 1st defendant Predrag Orlović, the 2nd defendant Milan Begović, the 3rd defendant Nedjeljko Pašić, the 4th defendant Predrag Korizma, the 5th defendant Nenad Korizma, the 6th defendant Leonardo Janković, the 7th defendant Toše Sundać, the 8th defendant Drago Kladar, the 9th defendant Dubravko Kovačević, the 10th defendant Dragan Vranešević, the 11th defendant Đuro Đurić (indictment against him was rejected in February 2009 following the re-qualification of the criminal act to armed rebellion), the 12th defendant Slavko Tadić, the 13th defendant Mirko Tomašević, the 14th defendant Nikola Borčić, the 15th defendant Goran Barač, the 16th defendant Mile Sundać, the 17th defendant Dušan Badić, the 18th defendant Dalibor Borota, the 19th defendant Jan Janković, the 20th defendant Nikola Sundać, the 21st defendant Rade Tintor, the 22nd defendant Rade Lukač, the 23rd defendant Matija Cvetojević, the 24th defendant Mirko Drač, the 25th defendant Simo Gaić, the 26th defendant Milan Joke, the 27th defendant Mustafa Kadunić, the 28th defendant Sebastian Sanela, the 29th defendant Pero Krneta, the 30th defendant Željko Žilić, the 31st defendant Nikola Krnjeta, the 32nd defendant Jovo Akika, the 33rd defendant Đorđe Borojević, the 34th defendant Zoran Tadić, the 35th defendant Dušan Tomašević
Defence counsels: Dijana Brezak, defence counsel of the 33rd defendant Đorđe Borojević, Zdravko Baburak, defence counsel of the 25th defendant Simo Gaić and Zrinka Grabas, defence counsel of the 34th defendant Zoran Tadić
Victims – killed civilians: Mile Blažević, Pajo Žuljevac, Pajo Knežević, Mile Begić, Mile Pušić, Manda Begić, Pero Špančić, Milan Bartolović, Žarko Gundić, Goran Faljević, Ivica Perić, Mladen Halapa, Branko Vuk, Zoran Šaronja, Davor Vukas, Željko Filipović.
MONITORING REPORTS
The majority of the defendants are unavailable to judicial bodies of the RoC.
So far, only the 10th defendant Dragan Vranešević was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The defendants Tošo Sundać, Slavko Tadić, Goran Barač, Dušan Badić, Dalibor Borota and Rade Lukač allegedly died or deceased, but since there are no official documents issued by the relevant institutions confirming their deaths, the procedure against these persons has not been terminated yet.
In February 2009, we monitored the separated procedure against the 11th defendant Đuro Đurić. Following the re-qualification of the criminal act to armed rebellion; a verdict was passed which rejected the indictment against this defendant.
At the trial hearing held on 8 June 2009, the procedure was separated in relation to the defendants Simo Gaić, Đorđe Borojević and Zoran Tadić, who are unavailable to Croatian judiciary. The indictment was modified in relation to them. Pursuant to the aforementioned modification, they are charged with committing the criminal act of armed rebellion referred to in Article 236 f, paragraph 1 of the KZRH.
VERDICT
On 8 June 2009, the Council passed a verdict which rejected the indictment against the defendants Simo Gaić, Đorđe Borojević and Zoran Tadić, pursuant to Article 353, item 6 of the Criminal Procedure Act, in relation to Article 2, paragraph 2 of the General Amnesty Act.
