Goran Hadžić

Croatian Serb politician

Hadžić was charged with 14 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Tribunal's last remaining fugitive, Hadžić was captured by Serbian authorities in 2011. In 2014 he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer; he died two years later at the age of 57.

Hadžić was born in the village of Pačetin, at the time in SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia; and in his youth was politically active as a member of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. On 25 June 1991, a group of eastern Slavonian Serbs organized a congress (Velika narodna skupština Slavonije Baranje i Zapadnog Srema) where they decided to constitute a "Serb Autonomous Oblast" (SAO) of the region, the SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia, and also to separate the region from the Republic of Croatia, which was still part of Yugoslavia. Hadžić was elected as a candidate to lead the entity's government. After Operation Storm in August 1995, parts of RSK in eastern Slavonia remained outside the Croatian government's control. Between 1996 and 1997, Hadžić was President of the Srem Baranja district, after which the region was peacefully reintegrated into Croatia under the provisions of the Erdut Agreement. Hadžić subsequently moved to Serbia in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 2000, he attended the funeral of indicted war criminal Željko Ražnatović Arkan in Belgrade, calling him a "big hero".

Hadžić was prosecuted and tried in absentia in Croatia on two counts: in 1995 he was convicted for rocket attacks on Šibenik and Vodice, and sentenced to 20 years in prison; in 1999 he was convicted for war crimes in Tenja, near Osijek, and sentenced to an additional 20 years imprisonment. In 2001, Interpol put him on its Most Wanted Fugitives list and issued a Red corner notice. In 2002, Croatia's state attorney brought another indictment against Hadžić, the so called Vukovar Three (Veselin Šljivančanin, Mile Mrkšić and Miroslav Radić) and the Yugoslav People's Army's senior commanders, alleging the murder of almost 1,300 Croats in Vukovar, Osijek, Vinkovci, Županja and elsewhere. Hadžić faced 14 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in the forcible removal and murder of thousands of Croatian civilians from the Republic of Croatia between 1991 and 1993. His indictment specifically cites the 1991 Vukovar massacre of 250 mostly Croats, from the Vukovar hospital; the Dalj, Erdut and Lovas massacres; involvement in Stajićevo, Begejci and Sremska Mitrovica camps; and the alleged wanton destruction of homes and religious and cultural buildings in Dalj, Erdut, Lovas, Tovarnik and Vukovar. Nenad Čanak, the leader of the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina, claimed in 2006 that Hadžić was hiding in a monastery somewhere on Fruška mountain. At one point he was also rumoured to be hiding in Belarus. In October 2007, the Serbian government council for national security had offered €250,000 for information leading to Hadžić's arrest. In 2010, the Rewards for Justice Program was offering an award of up to US$5 million for information leading to Hadžić's arrest. In 2010, Serbia raised the reward for Hadžić's arrest to US$1.4 million. When asked by the press whether Hadžić's trial could be transferred from the ICTY, Croatian Serb politician Milorad Pupovac indicated that Serbia should try Hadžić. Serbian police raided Hadžić's home on 9 October 2009 and impounded some of his belongings but did not make any statements following the operation. In 2010, the Council of the European Union blocked Hadžić's family from entering the EU. After the arrest and extradition of the penultimate war crimes fugitive, Ratko Mladić, the European Union continued to insist on the arrest and extradition of Hadžić to the Hague to face trial. And stated that his fugitive status was holding back Serbia's membership in that body

Hadžić's initial arraignment before the ICTY was on 25 July and lasted 15 minutes. He declined to enter a plea to charges arising from the war in Croatia. His duty counsel Vladimir Petrovic said Hadžić would not "enter a plea today. He is going to avail himself of the rights granted to him "

Hadžić pleaded not guilty at his second appearance before the tribunal on 24 August. The prosecutors announced they would call 141 witnesses, seven of them experts whose reports would be submitted later. Also announced was testimony from 82 fact witnesses, 20 of whom would give evidence in court. Transcripts of testimonials from the remaining 62 would be submitted into evidence, and the defense would have the opportunity to cross examine the witnesses later. Prosecutors received a total of 185 hours to examine the witnesses and experts in chief. The trial began on 16 October 2012. The prosecution completed its case in November 2013, and in February 2014 the tribunal rejected Hadžić's mid trial motion for acquittal. Hadžić had argued that the prosecutor had produced insufficient evidence to convict. Hadžić was then required to put on his defense.