Trial against Aleksandar Trifunović for war crime against civilians, as described and punishable stated in 120 of the Basic Criminal Law Act of the Republic of Croatia (OKZRH).

INDICTMENT (SUMMARY)

On 1 February 2001, the Vukovar County State Attorney's Office (hereinafter: ŽDO) issued theindictment against the 1^st defendant Miloš Stanimirović and twenty three more persons including the 12^thdefendant Alekdandar Trifunović.

The indictment no. DO-K-34/00 of 1 February 2001 issued by the Vukovar ŽDO can be viewed (in Croatian) here.

During the trial, Trifunović was in custody and attended the trial, but the Vukovar County Court accepted registration of the defendant's house to serve as a guarantee of his presence during the trial and thus itvacated his detention. The VSRH quashed the decision on guarantee and release from detention, but the defendant had already escaped from Croatia. An international arrest warrant was issued against him.

Based on the decision no. Kv-64/06 of 22 March 2006 issued by the County Court, the trial against Aleksandar Trifunović was separated from the trial against the other mentioned defendants, factualand legal description including the legal qualification of offences were modified.

According to the Vukovar ŽDO's indictment issued on 29 March 2006, the defendant is charged with thefollowing: after occupation of Tovarnik on 20 September 1991 by the so-called JNA and joined Serbparamilitary formations and extreme persons, the defendant joined the occupation forces in Tovarnik andtogether with others participated in the forming of local authority and tasks division on the basis of amutual agreement with the purpose of making an ethnically clean area and preventing Croatian and other non-Serb population from further living in the village; for that reason, they were expelling, killing, physically maltreating, arrogating property to themselves and destroying it; the defendant is also chargedthat he participated in issuing decisions on carrying out activities subjecting entire civilian Croatianpopulation to systematic physical and psychical abuse and that in his capacity as president of Mjesnazajednica (community office) he organised forced labour and was issuing passes for going out of the village,

thus by violating international law rules at the time of armed conflict, the defendant was killing, and torturing civilians inflicting them great suffering and bodily injuries, carried out population displacement, plundered property, intimidated and terrorised them and treated them inhumanly,

therefore, he committed criminal offences against humanity and international law – war crime against civilians, as described and punishable according to Article 120 of the OKZRH.

The Vukovar ŽDO's indictment no. DO-K-34/00 of 29 March 2006 can be viewed (in Croatian) here.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Vukovar County Court

Case file number: K-22/06

War Crimes Council (panel): judge Slavko Teofilović, President of the Council; we are not familiar with the names of Council Members

Indictment: the Vukovar ŽDO's indictment no. DO-K-34/00 of 1 February 2001; no. DO-K-34/00 of 29March 2006 - following the separation of the proceedings amended in respect of defendant Aleksandar Trifunović

Prosecution: Miroslav Šarić, Vukovar County Deputy State Attorney

Criminal offence: war crime against civilians stated in Article 120 of the OKZRH

Defendant: Aleksandar Trifunović, unavailable to Croatian judiciary

Defence counsel: Igor Plavšić, lawyer practicing in Vukovar

Victims:

- killed: Đuro Grgić, Mato Živić, Željko Vrančić, Đuro Miklošević, Marko Šijaković, Đuka Došen, Ivan Zelić, Josip Šarčević, Miroslav Zelenika, Ruža Ivković, Stepan Kovačić, Jelka Krnić, Jozo Šišić, Ivan Adamović, Danijel Perković, Karlo Grbešić

Zločin u Tovarniku - Izvještaji sa suđenja

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