Verdict against Branimir Glavaš for war crimes against Serbs overturned

The Supreme Court has overturned the first-instance verdict against Branimir Glavaš and others in the "garage" and "tape" cases and ordered the Zagreb County Court to hold a new trial for war crimes against Serbs in Osijek, Patria reports.

In the decision of the Supreme Court, it is stated that the appeals of Glavaš and the other defendants were accepted, and that the first-instance verdict is quashed in its entirety and the case is sent back to the first-instance court for a new trial and decision.

The first final verdict of the Supreme Court against Glavaš of eight years in prison, on the basis of which he served his prison sentence in Mostar from where he was released on temporary release, was overturned by the Constitutional Court in January 2015.

Thus, the verdict of the Zagreb County Court remained in force, by which he was non-final sentenced to 10 years in prison for war crimes in Osijek, so Glavaš, after returning to Croatia, was returned to investigative detention by a new decision of the Supreme Court, which was again partially overturned by the Constitutional Court.

After 26 days in Remetinec and the prison hospital, where he was due to a hunger strike, he was released on 31 March 2015 by a non-trial panel of the County Court, which explained that it was guided by earlier positions of the Constitutional Court, but also by the fact that, had Glavaš remained serving his sentence in Mostar, he would have been released on parole on 18 March last year.

The public session at which the appeals of the prosecution and the defense against the non-final verdict were discussed was concluded by the Supreme Court on 7 June. Glavaš and the other defendants then requested the quashing of the verdict and a retrial, while the prosecution sought stricter sentences.