ZAGREB: Croatia's Supreme Court said Thursday it had quashed a verdict against a former lawmaker convicted of war crimes for killing Serb civilians and ordered a full retrial.
Branimir Glavas was sentenced in 2010 to eight years in jail over his role in the gruesome killing of Serbs at the start of the 1990s war in Croatia.
But last year the Constitutional Court annulled the verdict on procedural grounds and ordered the Supreme Court to review the case.
A statement from the Supreme Court said the verdict against Glavas was "completely annulled and the case is sent to the first-instance tribunal for a retrial".
Glavas, a former general and far-right lawmaker, was the highest-ranking Croatian politician to have been convicted by a local court for war crimes during the 1991-1995 conflict.
He was originally sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Zagreb court in 2009, but the next year the term was reduced by the Supreme Court.
Glavas, who is also a Bosnian national, was found guilty of ordering the 1991 abduction, torture and murder of at least 10 Serbs in the eastern town of Osijek in 1991 at the start of the conflict.
Thursday's ruling sparked outrage in neighbouring Serbia, with Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic warning it "reflected Croatia's clear politics."
"The message of this shameful act is that unpunished crimes against Serbs are normal and allowed," Dacic said in a statement.
Croatia's proclamation of independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 sparked a four-year war with Belgrade-backed rebel Serbs who opposed the move.
The conflict claimed nearly 20,000 lives. The proper handling of war crimes cases involving Croatia's own nationals was among key criteria for the country to join the European Union.
Croatia became the bloc's 28th member in 2013.
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