Miroljub Vujovic, convicted of one of the most notorious crimes of the Croatian war, was released after serving two-thirds of his 20-year sentence, with the Belgrade court citing his “adequate behaviour and conduct”.
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The Ovcara massacre memorial in Croatia. Photo: BIRN/Marko Risovic.
Miroljub Vujovic, a Serb wartime fighter who was convicted in Serbia of participating in killing some 200 prisoners from the Croatian town of Vukovar at the nearby Ovcara Farm in November 1991, has been granted early release based on the Belgrade Appeals Court’s conclusion that his “resocialisation” is complete.
The court told BIRN that in its ruling on January 28, it established that Vujovic had served two-thirds of his prison sentence, making him eligible for potential early release, and that he had displayed “adequate behaviour and conduct”.
The court also said that Vujovic “has made maximum progress” towards resocialisation. It further noted that “due to his great contribution to the preparation of all the cultural events in the [orison] institution, he was awarded a cash prize”.
It also said that he is healthy enough to work and that he will have the support of relatives and friends after release “so it is known that there will be post-penal acceptance by the family”.
The mass slaughter at Ovcara Farm followed the fall of the town of Vukovar in eastern Croatia to the Yugoslav People’s Army and Serbian paramilitaries after a devastating three-month siege. It was one of the most infamous massacres of the wars in the former Yugoslavia.
Belgrade-based anti-war NGO Women in Black said on Tuesday that it “strongly condemns the shameful and cynical decision of the Court of Appeals”.
“With this decision, the judicial institutions of the state of Serbia have once again shown that they are more ready to release convicted war criminals than to file charges against them and thus bring justice to the victims,” Women in Black said in a statement.
In 2017, the Appeals Court in Belgrade sentenced Vujovic and seven other members of the Vukovar Territorial Defence force, which in 1991 was part of the Yugoslav People’s Army, to 101 years in prison.
Four defendants who were originally given prison sentences were acquitted on appeal for lack of evidence.
An investigation by BIRN in 2020 found that of a total of around 1.8 million euros in compensation and refunds of legal costs that Serbia granted to defendants who were acquitted of war crimes or had their charges dropped, the largest sums went to those in the Ovcara case.
According to the indictment, the defendants beat and killed prisoners as they were brought to Ovcara Farm on November 20 and 21, 1991, after Vukovar fell.
The case was the biggest individual case for Vukovar-related crimes prosecuted before a Serbian court.
The highest-ranking officers to be convicted of crimes related to Vukovar are the former Yugoslav People’s Army officers Veselin Sljivancanin and Mile Mrksic, who were tried before the Hague war crimes tribunal.
Sljivancanin was found guilty in 2007, but the Tribunal reduced his sentence from 17 to ten years in 2010. He returned to Belgrade after serving two-thirds of his sentence in 2011, and has since nurtured a close bond with the ruling Serbian Progressive Party.
Mrksic was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2007. He died while serving his sentence in Portugal in 2015.
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