The Croatian Supreme Court upheld the acquittal of General Rahim Ademi, who was cleared of charges of war crimes in Medak in a trial held by the Zagreb County Court, and reduced by one year the seven-year-prison sentence for the other defendant in this case, General Mirko Norac.
In May 2008 the Zagreb County Court found Norac guilty of war crimes committed by Croatian Army soldiers in the Medak pocket, southeast of Gospic, from 9 to 17 September 1993, when Croatian forces retreated and UN peacekeepers took control of the area.
The court acquitted Ademi, establishing that this defendant "had restricted powers" due to "a parallel line of command" established by Admiral Davorin Domazet Loso on behalf of the then army chief-of-staff Janko Bobetko.
Both the prosecution and the defence team for Norac appealed the county court's verdict.
The prosecution that requested a higher prison sentence for Norac and a guilty verdict for Ademi, and Norac's defence lawyers, who asked for his acquittal or at least for a retrial, presented their arguments to the Supreme Court at a hearing on 19 November 2009.
The Supreme Court announced its ruling on this case on its web site on Thursday.
According to the ruling, Ademy's acquittal is final.
According to the indictment in this case, 23 civilians and five captured Serb soldiers were killed and 300 houses, barns and other facilities were destroyed at the time relevant to the indictment just before the withdrawal of Croatian troops.
Norac is already serving a 12-year prison term for war crimes in Gospic in 1991.
