Croatia Retries Soldiers For War Crimes Against Serbs

By: Erica McCauley

Croatia has decided to retry two former soldiers accused of killing seven Croatian Serb civilians. These civilians were brutally murdered in the town of Novska in 1991, when the Yugoslav National Army was running rampant killing Croatian Serbs. The civilians' murders were described as killings done in their homes. Some of them were tortured and mutilated before their death. The courts claim that these soldiers were seeking revenge upon Croats for the genocide of the Serbs during World War II.
These soldiers have been previously tried in 1992; however, when they were tried, their crimes were not considered war crimes. They were pardoned by the Croatian judge at the time.
Croatia has taken a lot of initiative in trying former war criminals, yet human-rights activists claim that the courts are not putting their full effort into completing these trials, seeing as most trials begin and are never finished. Interestingly, Zoran Pusic of the Citizens Committee for Human Rights witnessed some of the trial, and was quoted, "Two former Tigers who had been present [at the time of the killings] testified today but they said they were outside the house. As usual in cases like this one, there is 'total amnesia.' They heard nothing and saw nothing, although there must have been shooting."
It is interesting that soldiers are still claiming that they had no idea that these crimes were happening, or they claim they were brainwashed. Still, c'mon people, its 2010.