The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague on Wednesday altered the final judgement against Yugoslav army officer Veselin Sljivancanin for war crimes committed on the Ovcara farm outside the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar in 1991, reducing his prison sentence from 17 to 10 years.
Having reviewed the final judgement, the ICTY Appeals Chamber accepted the defence argument that Sljivancanin had not known about the withdrawal of military policemen from Ovcara and was therefore not guilty of the murder of 194 Croatian prisoners of war on the farm in November 1991.
Judges, however, concluded that Sljivancanin was responsible for the torture of POWs and sentenced him to 10 years' imprisonment.
The time Sljivancanin has spent in detention will be credited towards his sentence.
