Croatian President Restores Honours to War Crime Defendant

Zoran Milanovic said on Monday that his decision to return state honours to Branimir Glavas was legally sound, even though he is on trial for alleged war crimes.

"Glavas asked for this, he sent a request, because he has been formally unconvinced for five years. If he had not asked me, I wouldn't have interfered," Milanovic told media.

"If he is convicted again, I will continue what [former President Ivo] Josipovic started," he said.

Glavas was stripped of his war honours and rank of general by Josipovic, after being sentenced by the country's Supreme Court in 2010. But since then his conviction has been quashed and a retrial has begun.

Wartime Croatian Army general Glavas, who is also a former MP, told N1 television on Saturday that he was not surprised by Milanovic's decision.

"It is a constitutional and legal decision, based on a series of laws, and the president was only the executor. There is no dilemma or unknowns about that legal decision," Glavas said.

But Zagreb-based rights organisation Documenta - Centre for Dealing with the Past described the decision as "neither appropriate nor ethically acceptable".

"Although it is legal, the decision is not appropriate because the facts about the crimes committed have been established by the court beyond a reasonable doubt," Documenta said on Saturday.

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

The 'Garage' case focused on a man who was forced to drink car battery acid in a garage in Osijek in August 1991. When he ran out of the garage in pain, he was shot by a member of the 1st Battalion of Osijek Defenders, which was commanded by Glavas.

The man died from the consequences of the poisoning....