Mile Mrkšić

Mile Mrkšić (Serbian: Миле Мркшић; 1947–2015) was a Serb Colonel of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in charge of the unit involved in the Battle of Vukovar during the Croatian War of Independence in 1991. He was convicted for not preventing the mass killing of 264 Croats that followed the fall of Vukovar, and sentenced to 20 years.

Biography

After the battle of Vukovar, he was promoted to General in the JNA and later Commander in Chief of the Military of Serbian Krajina (SVK) in May 1995. After the fall of Krajina in August 1995, he was denied entry into Serbia for a while since many blamed him for the military defeat. At one point he was placed under house arrest, sent into early retirement and ended up selling produce at a green market.

Mrkšić was indicted in 1995, along with Miroslav Radić, Veselin Šljivančanin and Slavko Dokmanović (who later committed suicide), by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). He voluntarily surrendered to the ICTY on May 15, 2002, and was transferred to the court the same day. The trial against him commenced in October 2005 and ended proceedings in 2007, where he was convicted.

• Five charges of crimes against humanity: article 5 of the ICTY Statute (persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds; extermination; murder; torture; inhumane acts)
• three charges of violations of laws or customs of war: article 3 of the ICTY Statute (murder; torture; inhumane acts).

On September 27, 2007 the Trial Chamber found Mrkšić guilty of aiding and abetting the murder of civilians and prisoners of war at Ovčara, aiding and abetting their torture, and aiding and abetting the cruel treatment given there. He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.

The verdicts caused indignation in Croatia, which had hoped for far more severe sentences. State-run radio called the outcome "shocking", while the Croatian prime minister said the verdicts were "shameful".

In August 2012, Mrkšić was sentenced to 20 years in prison, sentence to serve in the high security prison of Monsanto, in Portugal, for murder, torture and cruelty.