Pregledni rad
The violations of international humanitarian law against the persons forcibly taken from the Vukovar hospital and murdered at Ovčara
Ivica Kinder
orcid.org/0009-0009-2696-5998
; Sveučilište obrane i sigurnosti "Dr. Franjo Tuđman"
Sažetak
This article contains the analysis of the violations of international law against the persons forcibly taken away from the Vukovar hospital after the fall of the city in 1991. It starts from the findings of the historians of the Croatian Homeland War concerning the changes of structure of the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) during the process of dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), then of forces attacking Vukovar, and of the hidden role of the Republic of Serbia (Serbia). With a view to international law, the author analyses the negotiations that should have resulted with the evacuation of the wounded and sick from the Hospital. The analysis also covers the JNA’s acts that led to the atrocity at Ovčara. Based on insights into the documentation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the “Vukovar Hospital” case, and available sources from the trials conducted in Belgrade against the immediate executors, the attitudes towards the legal qualification of the armed conflict have been examined, as well as of the victims and of the criminal offences against them. All of that is observed in relation to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, the Additional Protocols of 1977, international customary law, the Statute of the ICTY and the opinions of the selected Croatian and foreign legal writers, including some Yugoslav, as well as some contemporary Serbian legal writers. The conclusion is that both the ICTY and Serbia were not ready to admit the existence (at least as of 8 October 1991) of the international armed conflict. If they did, it would have led to application of a larger body of rules of international treaty law regarding the variety of victims and, consequently, to more severe punishments for the perpetrators. Instead, the status of persons murdered at Ovčara had not been examined sufficiently, as not all of them were pure Croatian soldiers who became the prisoners of war, as some of them were also hors de combat or even wounded and sick civilians, or medical staff and other Hospital employees, or vulnerable civilians who were entitled to additional protection. Finally, there is a conclusion that the court trials, despite of perennial length and a few final convictions, brought neither the complete establishment of the facts nor sufficiently comprehensive criminal responsibility. Thus, neither satisfaction of international criminal justice nor sufficient contribution to peace and reconciliation process were achieved.
Ključne riječi
Vukovar; hospital; Ovčara; JNA; ICTY; Geneva Conventions
Hrčak ID:
312100
URI
Datum izdavanja:
22.12.2023.
Posjeta: 327 *