Annual Report on the Monitoring of War Crimes Trials in 2022

In this year’s report, we take a look at the trials held during 2022. We recorded a total of 61 criminal proceedings in the trial phase, which are under the jurisdiction of the county courts in Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek and Split. The fact that the trend of trials in absentia in war crimes cases is still dominant is worrying; it was recorded exclusively in criminal proceedings carried out against members of Serbian paramilitary units/Yugoslav People’s Army.

In the reporting period, in four competent courts, 41 out of 61 (67%) criminal proceedings were conducted against unavailable defendants who mostly reside in the territory of the Republic of Serbia. Of the total number of monitored trials, 57 (94%) were against members of Serbian paramilitary units/ Yugoslav People’s Army. At the same time, only 4 criminal proceedings were or are being conducted against members of Croatian military units and members of the Croatian Defence Council (crime in Osijek, defendant Gordana Getoš Magdić et al., crime in Hrasnica, defendant Perica Kustura, crime in Kuline, defendant Tvrtko Pašalić et al., crime in Lora 1 and 2, defendant Tomislav Duić et al.).