ZAGREB, April 5, 2018 – Croatian police have filed a criminal report against a 45-year-old national of Serbia on the suspicion that, after the fall of the eastern town of Vukovar in November 1991, he was involved in the torture and killing of captured Croatian soldiers and civilians, including French national Jean-Michel Nicolier, taken from the Vukovar hospital to the Ovčara farm outside the city.
The criminal report against the Serbian national, who is beyond the reach of Croatian authorities, was filed following an investigation by the police and the Osijek County Prosecutor’s Office which established that he took part, as a member of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA), in war crimes against civilians and POWs, committed during the aggression on Croatia.
According to the police, after the occupation of the Vukovar neighbourhood of Sajmište in October 1991, the suspect participated in the abduction and killing of seven civilians, of whom three are still unaccounted for. He is also suspected of involvement in the torture and killing of prisoners of war taken from the Vukovar hospital to the Ovčara farm on 20 November 1991, including Nicolier, whose remains have still not been found.
Together with other members of the enemy units, the suspect took part in the execution of 200 prisoners of war at the Grabovo/Vorginac location, about a kilometre from the Ovčara farm. The remains of 193 POWs have been identified to date, the Ministry of the Interior said, noting that it would step up activities to arrest the suspect and bring him to justice.
