JURIST - Paper Chase: Montenegro court sentences four former Yugoslav army Soldiers

[JURIST] A court in Montenegro on Wednesday sentenced four former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) soldiers to up to four years in prison for war crimes committed during the Croatian conflict. In a retrial of a 2010 case, the court found the four defendants guilty of torturing prisoners [RFE/RL report] at a detention camp in Morinj between 1991 and 1992. The defendants were four of the six lower-ranking JNA soldiers who were convicted in May 2010 [Reuters report] for the torture of Croatian prisoners detained during a conflict in Dubrovnik. This decision was overturned on appeal [SETimes.com report], and two defendants were acquitted in the retrial.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] continues to prosecute former high-ranking Yugoslav army soldiers for war crimes. Last September, ex-Yugoslav army chief Momcilo Perisic [ICTY profile, PDF; JURIST news archive] was convicted for crimes against humanity and war crimes [JURIST report], committed during the wars in Bosnia and Croatia and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Former Yugoslav National Army officer Miroslav Radic [Trial Watch backgrounder], was acquitted of war crimes charges [JURIST report] brought by the ICTY in 2007. In 2009, Radic sued Serbia [JURIST report] for the four years and six months he was detained during his trial by the ICTY.