A 30-day detention was set for nine former Serb rebels, suspected of having committed atrocities in Trpinja near Vukovar, in 1991, according a ruling made by an investigating judge at the Osijek County Court on Saturday.
The proposal for the 30-day investigative custody proposed by the prosecution that cited the gravity of war crimes and the argument that the suspects were a flight risk was accepted by the county court, the court's spokesman Miroslav Rozac said today.
This indictment for the Trpinja war crimes names 15 suspects, but six of them are beyond reach of Croatia's authorities.
They are believed to have been involved in the killing of at least 70 local residents and prisoners of war, and only 14 of those victims have been so far unearthed and identified, while others are still unaccounted-for.
From September to late November 1991, the suspects unlawfully arrested local residents and POWs, tortured them physically and mentally and sexually abused, according to the charges pressed against the 15 suspects.
Until recently, when remains of some victims were found, the prosecutorial authorities could not press charges as they had no solid evidence to corroborate statements of the witnesses.
