Veselin Šljivančanin

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Veselin Šljivančanin
FR Yugoslavia (until 2001)
Service/branchYugoslav People's Army
RankColonel
Battles/warsBattle of Vukovar

Veselin Šljivančanin (

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for his role in the Vukovar massacre. His prison sentence was changed twice, from five to seventeen to ten years. He has since been ordered released by the ICTY on time served and good behavior.[1][2]

Biography

Šljivančanin was born in the village of

Titograd), Montenegro
.

He was promoted to

FR Yugoslavia following the disbanding of the JNA, and transferred to the Military Academy in Belgrade, where he served as a lecturer in military tactics. He retired from military service in October 2001.[4]

Trial

Šljivančanin was

mass killing at Ovčara
, near Vukovar, of approximately 260 captive non-Serb men", on the following grounds:

He was arrested in Belgrade by Serbian authorities on 13 June 2003,

ICTY. He was handed over to the ICTY on 1 July. The trial against him commenced in October 2005. The court's verdict on 27 September 2007, found Šljivančanin guilty of "aiding and abetting the torture of the prisoners" and sentenced him to five years in prison.[7] He was found not-guilty of crimes against humanity, as the court found that the Serbian Territorial Defence and local Serb paramilitaries had carried out the killings. The court found that Šljivančanin as a JNA officer did not prevent the beating of prisoners by local Serb forces.[7]

The sentence caused outrage among the Croatian public and press, with Croatia's political leaders voicing outrage to the verdict.[8]

The BBC World Service interviewed one of the paramedics who was on duty at Vukovar's hospital, who said "if you stole a car today you would get a harsher sentence than what they got for the biggest crime that was committed here in the past 50 years".[9]

On 5 May 2009, the court announced it would increase the sentence for Šljivančanin to 17 years for aiding and abetting the murder of prisoners of war after the fall of Vukovar, while his guilt for aiding and abetting torture was reaffirmed.[1] The official statement states that the Appeals Chamber found that the Trial Chamber erred in acquitting Šljivančanin of aiding and abetting murder in Vukovar. Judge Theodor Meron stated that "Šljivančanin was under a duty to protect the prisoners of war held at Ovčara and that this responsibility included the obligation not to allow the transfer of custody of the prisoners of a war to anyone without first satisfying himself that they would not be harmed. Mr. Mrkšić’s order to withdraw the JNA troops did not relieve him of his position as an officer of the JNA." His sentence was reduced to 10 years in December 2010 based on a testimony of Miodrag Panić, a JNA officer who stated that Šljivančanin was not informed by Mrkšić that JNA soldiers would be pulled back from Ovčara.[10]

Šljivančanin was released on early for good behavior and time spent. The ICTY ordered his "early release" and that he "shall be released from the custody of the Tribunal as soon as practicable and once the administrative procedures have been completed."[11][12]

Personal life

Šljivančanin has two children: a daughter Olja and a son, Mlađen, a former professional basketball player.

References

  1. ^ a b "Press | International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia". Icty.org. Retrieved 2016-11-14.
  2. ICTY
    . 8 December 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  3. ^ "Порекло презимена Шљиванчанин". Poreklo.; Karadžić, Stojan; Šibalić, Vuk (1997). Породице у Дробњаку и њихово поријекло. Stručna knjiga.
  4. ^ Kovacevic, Tamara (2004-03-09). "Europe | Profile: The 'Vukovar Three'". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-11-14.
  5. ^ "Mrkšić et al. (IT-95-13/1) | International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia". Icty.org. Retrieved 2016-11-14.
  6. ^ "Europe | Serbs clash over war crimes arrest". BBC News. 2003-06-13. Retrieved 2016-11-14.
  7. ^ a b A SUMMARY OF JUDGEMENT FOR MILE MRKŠIĆ, MIROSLAV RADIĆ AND VESELIN ŠLJIVANČANIN, un.org; accessed 8 April 2016.
  8. ^ "Croatian press slams 'scandalous' Vukovar verdict" Archived 7 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Gulf-times.com; accessed 8 April 2016.
  9. ^ "Croatian anger at Vukovar verdict", BBC News, 28 September 2007.
  10. ^ "Šljivančaninu kazna smanjena sa 17 na 10 godina; Dr. Bosanac: Haški sud nije pravedan sud". Slobodna Dalmacija (in Croatian). 8 December 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  11. ^ "ISPOVEST VESELINA ŠLJIVANČANINA: Znam ko je UBIO Jugoslaviju. Evo šta je rekao o Šešelju, Ljajiću, Vukovaru i Hagu! (FOTO) | Telegraf – Najnovije vesti". Telegraf.rs. 2015-01-02. Retrieved 2016-11-14.
  12. ^ "Šljivančanin: Ko će odgovarati za moje vojnike? | Dosije". Novosti.rs. Retrieved 2016-11-14.
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