The indictment in the case does not include a number of obvious crimes, so the ruling probably reflects the indictment, Josipovic said in an interview on Croatian Radio.

Commenting on the reduction of Sljivancanin's sentence from 17 to 10 years in prison, Josipovic said the key omission in the case was the fact that a man holding the rank of major was named the main culprit for the Vukovar atrocity.

"Does anyone really think that the chain of command in Vukovar ended with someone who was a major or a colonel? I don't believe it and I think that after the Hague tribunal, which is completing its work, the Croatian and Serbian judiciaries should see where that chain of command ends," Josipovic said.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague last Wednesday altered the final judgement against 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.

Josipovic also commented on the arrest of former Croatian Assistant Interior Minister Tomislav Mercep, suspected of the murder or disappearance of 43 people in 1991.

"I don't want to prejudge anyone's guilt, but those crimes should have been investigated earlier, not 19 years later," Josipovic said, adding that Croatia would have enjoyed a better reputation in the international community had that been done.