As the centre of Bjelovar-Bilogora County and a settlement with over 40,000 inhabitants, Bjelovar is one of the political and cultural hubs of central Croatia. According to the 1991 census, 5,898 Serbs lived in Bjelovar, making up 8.93% of the total population. According to the most recent census in 2011, 1,877 Serbs live in Bjelovar, constituting 4.66% of the total population. Although Bjelovar no longer covers the same area as it did in 1991, and currently has 40,276 inhabitants compared to 66,039 previously, there is a clear significant change in the national structure of the population, visible in the decline of the Serbian population share in this area.<\/p>\n
Period:<\/strong> From 29 September to 3 October 1991<\/p>\n Description of crimes:<\/span><\/strong> The JNA barracks Bo\u017eidar Ad\u017eija, which housed the 265th<\/sup> Motorised Brigade of the JNA, was located in Bjelovar. In the autumn of 1991, about 150 JNA soldiers were stationed in the barracks. On 29 September 1991, at around 7 a.m., members of the Croatian National Guard (ZNG) began an attack on the barracks. During the day-long conflict and exchange of fire, JNA soldiers hit several civilian buildings in Bjelovar, and three women were killed in the shelling. In the afternoon of the same day, JNA Colonel Rajko Kova\u010devi\u0107 ordered a ceasefire and the laying down of arms. The ZNG forces then entered the barracks and disarmed the JNA soldiers and officers. Among the prisoners, Colonel Rajko Kova\u010devi\u0107, Lieutenant Colonel Miljko Vasi\u0107, and First-Class Captain Dragi\u0161a Jovanovi\u0107 were singled out and killed with gunshots to the head. On the same day, ZNG forces surrounded a weapons depot in the Bednik forest. After a short fight, the depot commander, Major Milan Tepi\u0107, ordered his soldiers to surrender while he stayed in the depot. As Croatian forces entered the facility, Tepi\u0107 detonated explosives and destroyed the depot. The explosion killed him as well as 11 ZNG members and seven JNA soldiers. Six JNA members \u2014 Radovan Barberi\u0107, Zdravko Dokman, Radovan Gredeljevi\u0107, Ivan Hojsak, Bo\u0161ko Radonji\u0107, and one unidentified person \u2014 were captured and taken to the police station in Bjelovar. On the night of 3 October 1991, they were taken to the \u010cesma forest near the village of Malo Korenovo and killed there. This is testified by Savo Kova\u010devi\u0107, a civilian from Bjelovar accused of being a sniper, who was also taken to the forest but survived the shooting.<\/p>\n Victims:<\/strong><\/p>\n Judicial consequences:<\/strong> Jure \u0160imi\u0107, former president of the wartime crisis headquarters and president of the Executive Council of the Bjelovar Municipal Assembly, was detained in November 2010 by order of the Bjelovar County State Prosecutor’s Office on suspicion of committing a war crime against prisoners of war. According to the allegations in the prosecutor’s request, \u0160imi\u0107 singled out three prisoners, K.R., V.M., and J.D., from a group. He then ordered a group of several armed individuals to take the prisoners about ten metres away and kill them, which they did by firing shots from firearms. \u0160imi\u0107 was released from detention, but according to statements from the State Attorney’s Office at the time, his trial was to begin in 2015 before the County Court in Rijeka. On 8 June 2015, the main hearing in the criminal proceedings against Jure \u0160imi\u0107 for crimes against prisoners of war commenced at the County Court in Rijeka with the reading of the indictment. According to the indictment, the accused \u0160imi\u0107 ordered the killing of three captured officers of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA), commanders of the Bo\u017eidar Ad\u017eija barracks in Bjelovar. On 29 September 1991, nearly 60 officers and 150 regular soldiers surrendered to Croatian military and police forces; they were disarmed and dressed in just trousers and undershirts. \u0160imi\u0107 is charged in the indictment as the president of the Bjelovar Crisis Headquarters with having singled out Colonel Rajko Kova\u010devi\u0107, commander of the 265th Motorised Brigade stationed at the barracks, and his assistants Lieutenant Colonel Miljko Vasi\u0107 and First-Class Captain Dragi\u0161a Jovanovi\u0107, ordering an unidentified group of soldiers to take them aside and kill them. This was carried out by shooting. During the trial, \u0160imi\u0107 pleaded not guilty, and four witnesses testified, none of whom were personally present in the barracks at the time of the shooting of the three JNA officers. In October 2019, \u0160imi\u0107 was provisionally acquitted of the war crime charge by the County Court in Rijeka. In June 2023, the Supreme Court dismissed the state prosecutor’s appeal as unfounded and upheld the acquittal.<\/p>\n In a separate case against Luka Marke\u0161i\u0107, Zdenko Radi\u0107, Zoran Maras, and Ivan Orlovi\u0107, based on the indictment from September 2001 and subsequent amendments, they were accused of assisting unknown persons in committing the war crime against prisoners of war and the war crime against civilians. This case concerned the victims Radovan Berbetovi\u0107, Zdravko Dokman, Radovan Gredeljevi\u0107, Ivan Hojsak, Bo\u0161ko Radonji\u0107, and one unknown person. By a verdict of the County Court in Bjelovar from January 2001, the accused were acquitted. A Supreme Court ruling from April 2004 annulled that first-instance verdict. By a verdict of the County Court in Vara\u017edin from February 2005, the accused were again acquitted, but the Supreme Court annulled that verdict as well. By a verdict of the County Court in Vara\u017edin from December 2007, the accused were found guilty and sentenced to prison terms: Marke\u0161i\u0107 to four years, and the other defendants to three years each. The Supreme Court also annulled this verdict and returned the case for retrial. In November 2011, the president of the War Crimes Council of the County Court in Zagreb issued a verdict acquitting the accused, which was not appealed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-14673","zlocini","type-zlocini","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n