Siege of Dubrovnik - War Crime Charges

War Crime Charges

Prosecutors of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), set up in 1993 and based on UN Security Council Resolution 827, indicted Milošević, Strugar, Jokić, as well as the JNA 9th VPS chief of staff Captain Milan Zec and the commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion of the JNA 472nd Motorized Brigade Captain 1st Class Vladimir Kovačević. The charges included allegations that the offensive against Dubrovnik aimed to detach the area from Croatia and annex it to Serbia or Montenegro. Jokić claimed that the offensive only aimed to blockade Dubrovnik, but the claim was later refuted by Cokić. Mihailo Crnobrnja, a former Yugoslav ambassador to the European Union, speculated that the siege was meant to force an end to blockades of JNA barracks in Croatia and claim the Prevlaka Peninsula for Montenego.

The trial of Slobodan Milošević was never completed, as Milošević died while in ICTY custody on 11 March 2006. Strugar was transferred to ICTY custody on 21 October 2001. The trial and appeals process was completed in 2008, with a final verdict of conviction of crimes including attacks on civilians, devastation not required by military necessity and violation of the laws and customs of war, and a sentence of to seven and a half years in prison. Strugar was granted an early release in 2009, seven years and four months after his transfer to the ICTY. Jokić was turned over to the ICTY on 12 November 2001. He pleaded guilty, and was convicted of crimes including murder, cruel treatment, attacks on civilians and violations of laws of war, resulting in a sentence of seven years in prison in 2004. The verdict was confirmed and became final in 2005. Jokić was transferred to Denmark to serve the sentence and released on 1 September 2008. The ICTY withdrew charges against Zec on 26 July 2002. Kovačević was arrested in 2003 in Serbia and transferred to the ICTY. Following an insanity defence, he was provisionally released on 2 June 2004 and the proceedings were transferred to the judiciary in Serbia in 2007 and psychiatric treatment at the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade. As of May 2012, he was considered unfit to stand trial by authorities in Serbia. The charges include murder, cruel treatment devastation not required by military necessity and violations of laws of war.

In 2008, authorities in Montenegro charged six former JNA soldiers for prisoner abuse committed in Morinj in 1991–1992. As of November 2012, the trial is ongoing. The inefficiency of the legal proceedings has been attributed to incompetent prosecutors and the lack of political will to prosecute crimes attributable to present-day high-ranking officials in Montenegro. A number of former prisoners of the Morinj camp sued Montenegro and were paid compensation.

In October 2008, Croatia indicted Božidar Vučurević, the mayor of Trebinje and Bosnian Serb leader in eastern Herzegovina at the time of the offensive, for attacks against the civilian population of Dubrovnik. Jokić confirmed that he received orders from both Strugar and Vučurević. On 4 April 2011, Vučurević was arrested in Serbia and Croatia requested his extradition, before he was released on bail on 17 June. In September, the request was approved, but Vučurević left Serbia and returned to Trebinje, avoiding extradition. Croatian authorities filed charges against ten JNA officers, including Cokić, Ružinovski, Strugar, Jokić, Zec and Kovačević in 2009. They are charged with war crimes committed in the area of Dubrovnik prior to or after 6 December 1991, which were not covered by the ICTY indictments. The charges were made after the ICTY supplied documents collected during its investigation. In 2012, Croatia indicted the commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion of the JNA 5th Motorized Brigade, charging him with arson in the burning of 90 houses, businesses and public buildings in Čilipi from 5–7 October 1991.