ŽARKOVIĆ: BY CONVICTING GLAVAŠ, CROATIA ACKNOWLEDGED FACT OF KILLINGS AND EXPULSION OF SERBS

BANJA LUKA, JUNE 11 /SRNA/ - By convicting Branimir Glavaš, the wartime commander of Croatian forces in Osijek, for crimes against Serbs, Croatia acknowledged the fact that the Serb people in that country were expelled, killed, forcibly converted, and persecuted, Krsta Žarković, president of the Krajina Association of Serbs Expelled from Croatia, told SRNA.

Žarković assessed that this verdict is only the beginning and that courts in Croatia, in appellate proceedings, will have to uphold other verdicts for crimes committed against Serbs in Vukovar, Dalj, Kip, and other settlements. He emphasized that this verdict shows that justice, although slow, is ultimately attainable, and that it is of great significance for Serbs from Croatia. He reminded that Glavaš and the Croatian forces under his command killed many Serbs from Osijek and the surrounding area, whose bodies were later thrown into the Drava River. "The murder of Josip Reihl-Kir, the pre-war head of the Osijek Police Administration, who advocated peace with the Serbs, remains unpunished, although Glavaš himself boasted that this was done to break up the former Yugoslavia," Žarković stated. According to him, this verdict shows that the court could not avoid addressing the war crimes committed by Glavaš in 1991. The High Criminal Court of Croatia finally sentenced wartime commander of Croatian forces in Osijek, Branimir Glavaš, to seven years in prison in the "Selotejp" case for war crimes against Serb civilians in Osijek in 1991. In addition to Glavaš, Gordana Getoš Magdić was finally sentenced to four years in prison for war crimes against the civilian population, while Dinko Kontić and Zdravko Dragić received sentences of three years each.