Croatian General Pleads Not Guilty in New War Crimes Trial

Branimir Glavas, who has been a defendant in a series of trials for the killings of Serb civilians in Osijek for more than a decade, declared his innocence again on Monday as the latest proceedings against him opened at Zagreb County Court.

His five co-defendants - Ivica Krnjak, Gordana Getos Magdic, Dino Kontic, Tihomir Valentic and Zdravko Dragic, all former members of a Croatian Army unit in Osijek - also pleaded not guilty.

Glavas's defence argued that the offences could not be legally defined as a war crime, but as murders committed during the war, and that the indictment was based on unlawful evidence.

His lawyers also said that on Friday, Glavas filed a criminal complaint against one of the witnesses in the trial, Krunoslav Fehir, accusing him of the murder of one of the wartime general's alleged victims, civilian Cedomir Vuckovic.

Glavas's first trial started in October 2007 and encompassed two cases, codenamed 'Garage' and 'Sellotape'.

In the 'Garage' case, Cedomir Vuckovic was forced to drink car battery acid in a garage in Osijek in September 1991. When he ran out of the garage in pain, he was shot by Krunoslav Fehir, a member of the 1st Battalion of Osijek Defenders, which was commanded by Glavas.

Vuckovic died from the consequences of the poisoning. Glavas then allegedly came from his nearby office and ordered that a second prisoner, Dordje Petkovic, should be executed.

In the 'Sellotape' case, Glavas's unit arrested six civilians in November and December 1991 in Osijek and then tortured them in a basement in the city. They were then brought to the Drava riverbank, where the unit's members executed them, with their hands tied behind their backs with sellotape.

Glavas was first convicted in 2009 and...