Crime in Velika Peratovica near Grubišno Polje
On 27 May 2009, the War Crimes Chamber of the District Court in Belgrade pronounced a 10-year prison sentence to Boro Trbojević for a war crime against civilians committed in the Grubišno Polje municipality area in 1991.
In December 2009, the verdict was upheld.
INDICTMENT
You can read the Indictment of the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia ovdje (PDF, 71 KB).
GENERAL INFORMATION
Belgrade District Court
Department: War Crimes Chamber
Chamber: judge Snežana Nikolić Garotić, President; judges Vesko Krstajić and Vinka Beraha Nikičević, Members
Indictment: issued by the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor on 26 May 2008
Criminal offence: a war crime against civilians under Article 142, paragraph 1 of the KZSRJ
Defendant: Boro Trbojević
THE COURSE OF THE TRIAL
On the basis of the Agreement on the cooperation in the prosecution of perpetrators of war crimes, the Croatian judiciary forwarded the Boro Trbojević case file to the bodies of the Serbian judiciary.
The Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor laid the indictment against Trbojević on 21 May 2008.
The trial began on 26 September 2008. The total of 10 hearings were held and 26 witnesses were heard. Out of that number of witnesses, 4 witnesses provided their testimonies via a video-conference link with the Zagreb County Court.
VERDICT
On 27 May 2009, the Court pronounced a first instance verdict in which it found the defendant guilty for the commission of a war crime against civilians under Article 142, paragraph 1 of the KZSRJ. The defendant was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In providing the statement of reasons, the Chamber President Snežana Nikolić - Garotić stated that, in the course of the trial, it was established that Trbojević was guilty of war crime against Croatian civilians in the villages of Velika Peratovica and Topolovica that was committed the period between end of August and end of October 1991. On the basis of a large number of witness testimonies, the Court Chamber established beyond doubt that Trbojević, as a member of the "Bilogora squad" of the Velika Peratovica Territorial Defence, participated in taking hostages, separating men and women and in killing five civilians in the school basement in Velika Peratovica.
In December 2009, the verdict was upheld.