Sentenced on 6 September 2006 to 20 years imprisonment by the War Crimes Chamber of The Belgrade District Court. In April 2007 the Serb Supreme Court ordered his retrial.
The office of the Prosecutor of the Belgrade District Court indicted Sasa Radak in April 2005 for criminal acts committed against prisoners of war in violation of national legislation, and for war crimes committed against prisoners of war in violation of the rules of international law of armed conflicts.
Radak was arrested in May 2005. His trial opened on 7 July 2005, before the Belgrade District Court.
Throughout the whole trial, Sasa Radak denied any involvement in the massacre of the 192 Croatian prisoners of war and pleaded not guilty. He asked to be acquitted for lack of proof, on the grounds that the evidence on which his indictment was based came from a witness who was himself involved in the massacre and hoped to escape being put on trial by unjustly accusing Sasa Radak.
However, as a result of evidence provided during the trial, the Court ruled that Sasa Radak had purposely participated in the execution of the Croatian prisoners and had also been involved in the inhumane and degrading treatment to which they had been subjected.
As a result, on 6 September 2006, the War Crimes Chamber of the Belgrade District Court, sentenced Sasa Radak to 20 years imprisonment for war crimes.
In April 2007 the Serb Supreme Court ordered his retrial due to serious breaches of criminal trial regulations.
Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
