JURIST - Paper Chase: Bosnia court upholds Croatia lawmaker's war crimes conviction

[JURIST] The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [official website] on Wednesday upheld the war crimes conviction [press release] former Croatian Parliament [official website] member Branimir Glavas [JURIST news archive] for ordering the torture and death of Croatian Serbs in the town of Osijek in 1991 during the Serbo-Croatian War [GlobalSecurity backgrounder]. The court sentenced Glavas to eight years in prison [Reuters report]. The ruling was in line with Glavas' conviction upheld [JURIST report] in July by the Supreme Court of Croatia [official website, in Croatian], which reduced his 10-year jail sentence [JURIST report] by two years. In confirming the decision of the lower court but reducing the sentence, the Supreme Court held that the war crimes counts of which Glavas was convicted should have been one count instead of two. Glavas has maintained his innocence [AFP report] throughout the proceedings, stating that the convictions are politically motivated.

A Bosnian state court refused to extradite Glavas [JURIST report] to Croatia to serve a sentence for war crimes in 2009. Glavas, who holds dual Bosnian and Croatian citizenship, fled to Bosnia to avoid serving his sentence. Shortly after fleeing Croatia in an effort to avoid the sentence, Glavas was arrested on an Interpol warrant in Bosnia. In 2008, Glavas was stripped of his parliamentary immunity [JURIST report] so that lawyers could proceed with his prosecution in Croatia. Glavas is a former prominent member of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union [party website, in Croatian], and was re-elected [JURIST report] to office under the new parliament during the Croatia's November 2007 elections. Glavas staged a 40-day hunger strike in 2006 when he was detained [JURIST report] after the criminal investigation against him initially opened.