Jurišić gets 12 years for Tuzla crime

The War Crimes Chamber of Belgrade’s District Court today announced its verdict in the case against Ilija Jurišić.

Jurišić was found guilty and sentenced to 12 years in jail. The two and a half years he has spent in custody will be included in the time he will now serve.

The former high ranking Bosnian police official was accused of war crimes committed when withdrawing Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) troops were attacked in Tuzla, eastern Bosnia, on May 15, 1992, in a case known as the Tuzla Column.

Jurišić, who was on duty at the town’s Public Security Operations Center on the fateful day, was accused by the prosecution of ordering all Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) and Croat armed units to attack the troops.

Based on this order, the snipers first shot and killed the drivers of the military vehicles, blocking the column’s passage, and then shot and killed the soldiers who were not organized to fight and were unable to offer resistance.

Visibly marked medical vehicles were destroyed, at least 51 soldiers were killed, while at least 50 were wounded in the massacre.