Croatian Supreme Court upholds conviction in POWs torture case

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The Croatian Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Zagreb County Court conviction of former Bosnian Serb intelligence officer Dane Lukajic (70) for war crimes against prisoners of war (POW) at the Manjaca camp, sentencing him to six years in prison.

Lukajic's appeal against the sentence was entirely rejected, which means that the initial sentence became final, the State Prosecutor's Office (DORH) said on Friday.

DORH recalled that Lukajic was found guilty of war crimes committed between mid-June and 16 September 1992 during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in a POW camp in Manjaca near Banja Luka. Lukajic was responsible for collecting intelligence information from POWs.

Lukajic ordered his subordinates to beat Croat POWs during or after interrogations. As a result, five Croat prisoners were severely beaten on his orders and he personally beat and tortured one of them.

Lukajic, who is currently in a remand jail, was found guilty of personally beating and torturing one prisoner of war.