6 Croats charged with war crimes in Pakrac

Six Croats have been arrested on suspicion of the murders of at least 16 Serb civilians near Pakrac. Former military policemen attached to the National Guards’ 76th battalion, Damir Kufner, Davor Simic, Zeljko Tutic, Tomislav Poleto, Ante Ivezic and Pavle Vancas, are suspected of the brutal murders of Serb civilians in Marina Selo and Ribnjak, and throughout the Pankrac region in general. 6 Croats charged with war crimes in Pakrac The District Court in Pozega has been leading a war crimes investigation against them since 1991. According to daily Jutarnji List, they were arrested on the basis of information and material submitted to the Croatian State prosecution by the Hague Tribunal in the case against former police chief Tomislav Mercep, who is suspected of crimes against Serbs in Vukovar, Gospic, Zagreb and Pakracka Poljana. Although the six suspects were not under Mercep’s command, during their investigation of crimes committed around Vukovar and Pakracka Poljana by a Croatian MUP reservist unit commanded by Mercep, Hague investigators came across atrocities carried out by other units, not under his command. According to the indictment, members of a police platoon commanded by Kufner and Simic, broke into houses of suspected Serbs, and on the pretext of searching for illegal weapons, arrested them and took them to a detention center in the village of Ribnjak, where, after undergoing physical and mental torture, they were murdered. It is estimated that a number of the victims were subsequently thrown into fishpond to be fed to perch, while witness testimonies speak of corpses floating on the pond, or being washed up on the banks. The Serbs were murdered in attempt to appropriate their property, which are the motives behind the murders that the accused and members of Mercep’s unit are accused of , some of whom have already been convicted. Despite considerable documentation, no charges have, as yet, been pressed against Mercep himself.

6 Croats charged with war crimes in Pakrac

The District Court in Požega has been leading a war crimes investigation against them since 1991.

According to daily Jutarnji List, they were arrested on the basis of information and material submitted to the Croatian State prosecution by the Hague Tribunal in the case against former police chief Tomislav Merčep, who is suspected of crimes against Serbs in Vukovar, Gospić, Zagreb and Pakračka Poljana.

Although the six suspects were not under Merčep’s command, during their investigation of crimes committed around Vukovar and Pakračka Poljana by a Croatian MUP reservist unit commanded by Merčep, Hague investigators came across atrocities carried out by other units, not under his command.

According to the indictment, members of a police platoon commanded by Kufner and Šimić, broke into houses of suspected Serbs, and on the pretext of searching for illegal weapons, arrested them and took them to a detention center in the village of Ribnjak, where, after undergoing physical and mental torture, they were murdered.

It is estimated that a number of the victims were subsequently thrown into fishpond to be fed to perch, while witness testimonies speak of corpses floating on the pond, or being washed up on the banks.

The Serbs were murdered in attempt to appropriate their property, which are the motives behind the murders that the accused and members of Merčep’s unit are accused of , some of whom have already been convicted.

Despite considerable documentation, no charges have, as yet, been pressed against Merčep himself.