Travica sentenced to 20 years in prison for war crimes

In a first instance verdict of the Osijek County Court, Željko Travica was found guilty of war crimes against captured Croatian soldiers in Cerić and Mirkovci in 1991 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Explaining the verdict, the president of the trial panel Davor Mitrović pointed out that the evidentiary proceedings had undoubtedly established that Željko Travica committed a war crime against prisoners of war, that he killed and abused them, which stems primarily from the testimonies of witnesses, but also from other evidence, such as the autopsy findings of the victims.

Travica has postponed presenting his defense on several occasions, citing health reasons and the consequences of cancer treatment and chemotherapy he received after surgery.

During his defense on May 5, he denied guilt for the criminal offense in the indictment, claiming that the trial was staged and that he did not abuse captured Croatian soldiers.

Given that he was sentenced to a prison sentence of more than five years, the trial panel extended the defendant's pre-trial detention, which may last until the verdict becomes final, and the time spent in pre-trial detention from November 5, 2024 will be included in Travica's sentence.

The indictment charges Travica with committing war crimes from October 2 to 4, 1991 in Cerić and Mirkovci, as a member of the Serbian paramilitary formation of the Territorial Defense of Mirkovci, during a joint attack by members of the JNA (Yugoslav People’s Army) and the Mirkovci TO on Cerić and after the occupation of that place. In doing so, he inhumanly treated prisoners of war, physically and psychologically abused them, and then killed them.

The prosecution claims that, together with other members of the Mirkovci TO, he lined up and shot dead eight captured police officers from the Vinkovci Police Department and the HOS, even though they had stopped resisting and laid down their weapons.

He was also accused of physically abusing the tied-up captured Croatian defenders and laughing with other members of the Mirkovci TO while one of the members of this paramilitary formation was shoving human brains into the mouths of the prisoners.

Travica was arrested on October 5, 2024, at the Calais border crossing in France, upon entering from Great Britain, based on a European arrest warrant issued by the Osijek County Prosecutor’s Office, and extradited to Croatia and brought to the Osijek prison.

Source: HRT