Croat war crime general’s sentence reduced

Veritas Documentation Center President Savo Štrbac said a court decision to reduce jail sentence of Mirko Norac was disappointing and unjust.

The Supreme Court of Croatia reduced by a year former Croat General Mirko Norac ‘s prison sentence.

He was initially sent to jail for seven years by the Municipal Court in Zagreb for committing war crimes against the country’s ethnic Serbs in the Medački Pocket region in 1993.

At the same time, the acquittal of his co-defendant in the orginal trial, Rahim Ademi, has been confirmed.

“They are actually using double standards. Some (standards) are far more strict when Serbs are on trial and others are milder when they are trying members of their army,” Štrbac told B92.

The war crime in three villages and nine hamlets of Medački Pocker occurred in September 1993, in what was a UN safe area at the time. Although the indictment accused Norac and Ademi of 23 murders, Štrbac says that 88 victims have been found and identified.

“This is really a regrettable punishment and where is justice for Serbs here? I’m really not that surprised, but I’m frustrated by such decisions and uneven criteria,” he pointed out.

The Medački Pocket indictment was initially filed in the Hague Tribunal which also accused former Chief of Croatian Army Janko Bobetko, who died before he was served with the indictment. However, the case was transferred to Croatia in 2005.

Although an important role and responsibility of Admiral Davor Domazet Loša was established during the trial, he has never been tried.