From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mile Mrk?i?
(
Serbian Cyrillic
:
Миле Мркши?
; 1 May 1947 ? 16 August 2015) was a
colonel
of the
Yugoslav People's Army
(JNA) in charge of the unit involved in the
Battle of Vukovar
during the
Croatian War of Independence
in 1991. He was convicted for not preventing
the mass killing
of 264 Croats that followed the
fall of Vukovar
, and sentenced to 20 years.
[1]
[2]
[3]
Biography
[
edit
]
Mrk?i? was born in
Kozarac
near
Vrginmost
on 1 May 1947.
After the battle of Vukovar, he was promoted to
General
in the JNA and later
Commander in Chief
of the
Serbian Army of Krajina
(SVK) in May 1995. After the
fall of Krajina
in August 1995, he was denied entry into
Serbia
for a while since many blamed him for the military defeat. At one point he was placed under
house arrest
, sent into early retirement and ended up selling produce at a
green market
.
[4]
Mrk?i? was
indicted
in 1995, along with
Miroslav Radi?
,
Veselin ?ljivan?anin
and
Slavko Dokmanovi?
, by the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
(ICTY). Dokmanovi? later committed suicide.
[5]
Mrk?i? voluntarily surrendered to the ICTY on 15 May 2002, and was transferred to the court the same day. The trial against him commenced in October 2005 and ended proceedings in 2007, where he was convicted.
[
citation needed
]
Charges
[
edit
]
On 27 September 2007, the Trial Chamber found Mrk?i? guilty of aiding and abetting the
murder of civilians and prisoners of war at Ov?ara
, aiding and abetting their torture, and aiding and abetting the cruel treatment given there. He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.
[1]
The verdicts caused indignation in Croatia, which had hoped for far more severe sentences. State-run radio called the outcome "shocking", while the Croatian prime minister said the verdicts were "shameful".
[2]
Sentence
[
edit
]
In August 2012, Mrk?i? was sentenced to 20 years in prison to be served in the high security prison of Monsanto,
Portugal
. He died three years later on 16 August 2015, aged 68.
[6]
[7]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Mrk?i? found guilty of aiding and abetting murders at Ov?ara, and ?ljivan?anin guilty of mistreatment, Radi? acquitted"
. The Hague: ICTY. 27 September 2007
. Retrieved
3 July
2011
.
- ^
a
b
Batty, David (27 September 2007).
"Ex-Serb colonel gets 20 years for Vukovar war crimes"
. Guardian
. Retrieved
3 July
2011
.
- ^
"Serb Army officers sentenced in Vukovar mass murder case"
.
New York Times
. 27 September 2007
. Retrieved
3 July
2011
.
- ^
"Accurate fire on military targets, random targeting of civilians"
. Sense Agency. 19 June 2009
. Retrieved
3 July
2011
.
- ^
Croatian Serb war crimes suspect found dead
,
BBC News
, 29 June 1998
- ^
Mile Mrk?i? dies
, jutarnji.hr; accessed 21 August 2015.
- ^
Mile Mrksic, a Serb Army Officer Convicted of War Crimes, Dies at 68
, nytimes.com; accessed 11 March 2016.
External links
[
edit
]
Military offices
|
Preceded by
|
Commander of the
Serbian Army of Krajina
17 May 1995 ? 7 August 1995
|
Succeeded by
Army disbanded
|
|
---|
Wars and conflicts
| |
---|
Background
| |
---|
Anti-war protests
| |
---|
Ex-Yugoslav formed countries
| |
---|
Unrecognized entities
| |
---|
United Nations protectorate
| |
---|
Armies
| |
---|
Military formations and volunteers
| |
---|
External factors
| |
---|
Politicians
| |
---|
Top military commanders
| |
---|
Other notable commanders
| |
---|
Key foreign figures
| |
---|
|
---|
| Prelude
| |
---|
1991
| |
---|
1992
| |
---|
1993–94
| |
---|
1995
| |
---|
| Internment camps
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|
|
|
|
|
---|
Overview
| |
---|
Background
| |
---|
Events and actors
| |
---|
Independence referendums in Yugoslavia
|
---|
Republics and provinces
| |
---|
Autonomy
| |
---|
| Consequences
| |
---|
Nationalism
| |
---|
|
|
|