Two of Vukovar Three found guilty, one acquitted

The three should have been sentenced for life in prison because they were there and their duty was to protect the patients herded our of the hospital and left alone with local milias and paramilitaries whose task was to do what the army did not want to do!

Let's phrase it like this, even though it's an euphemism!

Yes Sreten, strange enough it is the same punishment the croatian soldier Drazen Erdemovic got for his partition in the killings in Srebrenica.

I hear you, Victor. Who cares about the legal process, let's convict him here in some e-court. Let's not bother with evidence or any such inconveniences . . . unless we're talking about someone who got a conviction with a life sentence. In that case, the legal process was good.

Why is it that people can't get it through their thick heads that a fair trial may actually lead to an acquittal, especially if the person is not guilty of the charges brought. If they were guilty of dereliction of duty, that's what they should have been charged with.

Ida,

There were some soldiers who went to the hospital to be treated, and they should have been considered by the Serb troops as POW.

Do you agree that it was ok that they were executed because the were Croat soldiers who had fought to defend their country?

«The Mercep Pocket massacre was mostly civilian.»

And so were the massacres of women and children in Visegrad, herded by 100s in their homes and burned alive.

The same thing happened in Zvornik: trucks loaded with corpses were seen leaving the villages for unknown destinations.

And the same happened in Vukovar, soldiers removed over patients from the hospital and handed them all to paramilitary units and local militias. They did not want to do the scabrous work!

I wasn't following the trial and can't tell what's Sljivancanin's personal role in Ovcara killing, but 5 years sentence seem to be very light.

An interesting excerpt from the trial:

"Prosecutors had sought to prove that those killed were largely civilians, but the court ruled they had been initially selected as suspected Croatian fighters. Accordingly, all charges of crimes against humanity against the three men - known as the "Vukovar Three" - were dismissed, including the charge of extermination."

This was the common pattern in all of the Balkan wars. Men killing men in both combat and in massacres of suspected fighters. This is largely what happened in Bosnia as well.

They weren't actually patients who died but soldiers. They weren't on any of the hospitals registry and there were no women killed.

The autopsy evidence didn't show clearly they were killed execution style and there's no evidence they were official patients.

From BBC news site, regarding Ovcara three:

"...on 20 November about 300 men were loaded onto buses, driven to the nearby Ovcara farm and beaten by the soldiers for several hours. At least two men died from the beatings. Some of the captives were then released.

The others were then divided into groups and transported to a field where they were shot and killed."

I am sure that everybody here agrees that murdering 300 people is a terrible crime, war time or no war time.

IDA, it is really sad the way u try to dismiss of what those people were. But it is true that they were taken as sick and helpless out of the hospital and murdered the way the serbs murdered innocent civillians in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosova.
YOu can claim as much as you want to that they were or were not officially registered patients in hospital but the truth is known worldwide about the crimes done by serbs in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosova. Your whole garniture of Serb leaders from the 90's is either in Hague, wanted by the Hague or died in the Hague. So face the reality that horrible crimes were done in the name of Serbia and serbs. You could personally escape from this reality but it doesnt help you or your country at all.
Thanks

"This was the common pattern in all of the Balkan wars. Men killing men in both combat and in massacres of suspected fighters. This is largely what happened in Bosnia as well."

But the Muslim and Croat-led massacres of Serbs had a higher percentage of women and children dead. The Mercep Pocket massacre was mostly civilian.

This decision is a joke - the tribunal basically found it irrelevant whether the Ovcara victims were civilians because the soldiers committing the killings "thought" they were civilians.

And Ida, you talk about civilian deaths in Medak - yes they were terrible and those responsible should be brought to justice (and there are people being tried for that at this present moment).

The fact is that there was a plan in Vukovar made public with soldiers singing in Serbian they will be meat, we're slaughtering Croats, Slobodan give us salad, we have meat.

I condemn ALL atrocities committed in the name of Croats, Serbs, Muslims, Albanians, etc.

If the world community thinks that there will ever be cooperation among Serbs and Croats, then those guilty of war crimes should be sentenced - this decision is a travesty of justice!

Rest in Peace Ovcara victims!

They weren't actually patients who died but soldiers. They weren't on any of the hospitals registry and there were no women killed.

The autopsy evidence didn't show clearly they were killed execution style and there's no evidence they were official patients.

I wasn't following the trial and can't tell what's Sljivancanin's personal role in Ovcara killing, but 5 years sentence seem to be very light.

The three should have been sentenced for life in prison because they were there and their duty was to protect the patients herded our of the hospital and left alone with local milias and paramilitaries whose task was to do what the army did not want to do!

Let's phrase it like this, even though it's an euphemism!

Yes Sreten, strange enough it is the same punishment the croatian soldier Drazen Erdemovic got for his partition in the killings in Srebrenica.

I hear you, Victor. Who cares about the legal process, let's convict him here in some e-court. Let's not bother with evidence or any such inconveniences . . . unless we're talking about someone who got a conviction with a life sentence. In that case, the legal process was good.

Why is it that people can't get it through their thick heads that a fair trial may actually lead to an acquittal, especially if the person is not guilty of the charges brought. If they were guilty of dereliction of duty, that's what they should have been charged with.

An interesting excerpt from the trial:

"Prosecutors had sought to prove that those killed were largely civilians, but the court ruled they had been initially selected as suspected Croatian fighters. Accordingly, all charges of crimes against humanity against the three men - known as the "Vukovar Three" - were dismissed, including the charge of extermination."

This was the common pattern in all of the Balkan wars. Men killing men in both combat and in massacres of suspected fighters. This is largely what happened in Bosnia as well.

"This was the common pattern in all of the Balkan wars. Men killing men in both combat and in massacres of suspected fighters. This is largely what happened in Bosnia as well."

But the Muslim and Croat-led massacres of Serbs had a higher percentage of women and children dead. The Mercep Pocket massacre was mostly civilian.

Ida,

There were some soldiers who went to the hospital to be treated, and they should have been considered by the Serb troops as POW.

Do you agree that it was ok that they were executed because the were Croat soldiers who had fought to defend their country?

From BBC news site, regarding Ovcara three:

"...on 20 November about 300 men were loaded onto buses, driven to the nearby Ovcara farm and beaten by the soldiers for several hours. At least two men died from the beatings. Some of the captives were then released.

The others were then divided into groups and transported to a field where they were shot and killed."

I am sure that everybody here agrees that murdering 300 people is a terrible crime, war time or no war time.

IDA, it is really sad the way u try to dismiss of what those people were. But it is true that they were taken as sick and helpless out of the hospital and murdered the way the serbs murdered innocent civillians in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosova.
YOu can claim as much as you want to that they were or were not officially registered patients in hospital but the truth is known worldwide about the crimes done by serbs in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosova. Your whole garniture of Serb leaders from the 90's is either in Hague, wanted by the Hague or died in the Hague. So face the reality that horrible crimes were done in the name of Serbia and serbs. You could personally escape from this reality but it doesnt help you or your country at all.
Thanks

«The Mercep Pocket massacre was mostly civilian.»

And so were the massacres of women and children in Visegrad, herded by 100s in their homes and burned alive.

The same thing happened in Zvornik: trucks loaded with corpses were seen leaving the villages for unknown destinations.

And the same happened in Vukovar, soldiers removed over patients from the hospital and handed them all to paramilitary units and local militias. They did not want to do the scabrous work!

This decision is a joke - the tribunal basically found it irrelevant whether the Ovcara victims were civilians because the soldiers committing the killings "thought" they were civilians.

And Ida, you talk about civilian deaths in Medak - yes they were terrible and those responsible should be brought to justice (and there are people being tried for that at this present moment).

The fact is that there was a plan in Vukovar made public with soldiers singing in Serbian they will be meat, we're slaughtering Croats, Slobodan give us salad, we have meat.

I condemn ALL atrocities committed in the name of Croats, Serbs, Muslims, Albanians, etc.

If the world community thinks that there will ever be cooperation among Serbs and Croats, then those guilty of war crimes should be sentenced - this decision is a travesty of justice!

Rest in Peace Ovcara victims!