Branimir Glavaš

The retrial of former general Branimir Glavas and other defendants for war crimes in the Croatian eastern city of Osijek in 1991 opened at Zagreb County Court on Monday.

At Monday's hearing, Glavas's defence requested that the trial be transferred from Zagreb to the Osijek County Court.

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.

Two Croatian human rights organisations criticised Croatia for the "slow processing of war crimes" in a statement to mark the European Day for Victims of Crime on Monday.

Two former politicians, Luka Bebic and Andrija Hebrang, members of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, told Zagreb County Court on Monday that they only learned from the media that the defendant, Branimir Glavas, had been involved in war crimes against Serbian civilians in the eastern city of Osijek in 1991.

Nikola Jaman, who was a commander of the First Battalion of Osijek Defenders during wartime, testified at Zagreb County Court on Tuesday that he lied in earlier testimony about Branimir Glavas, who is being retried alongside six co-defendants for the killings of Serb civilians in the eastern city of Osijek in 1991.

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.

A court in Osijek has begun the retrial of Serbian citizen Djordje Rkman, who is accused of committing war crimes against civilians in the eastern Croatian town of Djakovo in 1991 and 1992.

Croatia’s Supreme Court abolished a decision to separate the war crimes trial of 1990s Croatian general Branimir Glavas from cases against his subordinates, which means crucial evidence against him will still be valid.

A Croatian entrepreneur found guilty of trying to bribe Supreme Court judges in the case against 1990s general Branimir Glavas has absconded to Bosnia and Herzegovina instead of turning up to serve his two-year prison sentence.

A Croatian police inspector told the retrial of Branimir Glavas that he overheard a conversation implying that the 1990s general was wrongly accused of war crimes against Serbs.