Amsterdam - A UN tribunal in The Hague on Tuesday defended its conviction on appeal of a former Serbian army officer for his part in the execution of almost 200 Croatian prisoners of war near the city of Vukovar in eastern Croatia in 1991. Last week, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) overturned a lower court's acquittal of the Veselin Sljivancanin, a former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) major, on the charges of aiding and abetting the murders.
The court also reaffirmed an earlier conviction on charges of aiding and abetting the torture of the prisoners and increased his sentence from five to 17 years in prison.
Forces from the Serb-dominated JNA entered Vukovar in November 1991, rounded up Croat prisoners and tortured and executed them on Ovcara farm near the city, in what was to become known as one of the worst atrocities in Croatia's war for independence.
Sljivancanin's defence team, in a statement on Monday, claimed the ICTY had violated international law and said it would ask the Appeals Chamber to review its judgement "in light of new facts" submitted following the May 5 judgement.
Attorneys Novak Lukic and Stephane Bourgon said the fact that the conviction of their client with a 3:2 majority on a count on which he had previously been acquitted, taking away his right to appeal, violated the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
ICTY spokeswoman, Nerma Jilacic, in an interview with the German Press Agency
