Fourteen former Serbian soldiers and paramilitaries have been charged with killing 70 civilians in the village of Lovas when Serb troops took control of the area in October and November 1991.
Serbian prosecutors say 22 civilians died after being forced into a mined clover field and another 48 civilians were killed in their houses and yards.
Survivor Antun Krizmanic told the court that some of the accused Serb fighters were at the village. He said they divided the civilians into two groups, and then beat and tortured one group before forcing them into the mine field.
He said after a mine went off, the soldiers then started shooting at the prisoners until a Yugoslav army major arrived and stopped the carnage.
The war in Croatia erupted in 1991, when the republic declared independence from the Yugoslav federation, triggering a Serb rebellion backed by the Serb-led Yugoslav army. The war lasted until 1995.
Serbia’s prosecution of Serbs responsible for atrocities in the war became possible only after the country’s pro-democracy forces removed the late leader Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.
