BELGRADE COURT
MARCH 12 2009 16:39h
Belgrade District Court passed the verdict for the Ovcara massacre. Thirteen persons were sentenced to 193 years in prison.
Miroljub Vujovic, one of 18 defendants for crimes in Ovcara, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. A total of 13 defendants were sentenced to 193 years in prison together, i.e. sentences ranging from 5 to 15 years in prison, while five were acquitted of charges with shooting 200 Croatian prisoners in the night between November 20 and 21, 1991 in the former farm Ovcara, near Vukovar.
Even though Miroljub Vujovic said in his closing statement that the process was staged and that the
Acquitted persons include Vujo Zlatar, Predrag Madjarac, Marko Ljuboja, Slobodan Katic and Milorad Pejic, while Milan Lancuzanin`s sentence was reduced from 20 years to 6, because of which he will soon leave prison, together with Predrag Dragovic, whose sentence was reduced from 20 years to 5. The Prosecution has already announced an appeal to the District Court`s provision, due to drastically reduced sentences.
Six-year process
The first indictment for crimes in Ovcara was raised at the end of 2003 and the first trial began on March 9, 2004. In December 2006, the Supreme Court cancelled the War Crimes Council`s verdict and retrial began in March 2007.
During the first trial, only Marko Ljuboja and Slobodan Katic were acquitted, while this time, they were joined by Madjarac, Zlatar and Milorad Pejic.
Thousands of Lanterns Lit on Ovcara