Croatia Increases Jail Sentences for Three Serb Paramilitaries

The Croatian Supreme Court announced on Thursday that it has confirmed the verdict convicting former Serb paramilitaries Dusan Zarkovic, Bogdan Jednak and Dusan Martic in their absence of the killings of Croatian civilians.

It said that it had also accepted an appeal from the state attorney and increased the men's sentences from ten to 15 years in prison.

"The Supreme Court finds that the first-instance court imposed a sentence that was too short, so it reversed the verdict in the sentencing decision and increased the sentences for the defendants," the court said in a press release.

It noted that "a stricter prison sentence expresses clear condemnation by society of the criminal offence committed".

In July, Zagreb County Court found the three members of Serb paramilitary forces guilty of war crimes after they were tried in absentia for killing three Croatian villagers in Josevica in central Croatia on November 6, 1991.

The court found that during an armed conflict between Croatian forces and Serb paramilitaries, the men told married couple Nikola and Gina Krestalica to give them their car, gold and jewellery.

They then broke into the couple's house, where Nikola Krestalica's brother Djuro Krestalica also was, and killed all three of them, leaving the crime scene with the couple's car and belongings.

In September 2018, Zarkovic and Jednak were also convicted of another war crime in Josevica. Zagreb county court sentenced them to 15 years in prison each for participating in the murder of 21 Croatian villagers in December 1991.

The accused, along with other unknown perpetrators, went from house to house, killing people in their sleep using guns equipped with silencers.

Of the 21 people killed, one was a...