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REGISTRY
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The Hague, 5 October 2006
JP/MOW/1120e
Miodrag Jokic Transferred to Denmark to Serve His Prison Sentence
Miodrag Jokić, a former Yugoslav naval commander who pleaded guilty to crimes committed during the 1991 attack on Dubrovnik, was today transferred to Denmark to serve his seven year prison term.
Jokić was convicted for crimes committed by soldiers under his command during the attack on 6 December 1991. On that day, they shelled the Old Town of southern Croatian city, listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. As a result, two civilians were killed and three were wounded, six buildings were destroyed in their entirety and many more buildings suffered damage. Institutions dedicated to religion, charity, education, and the arts and sciences, and historic monuments and works of art and science were damaged or destroyed.
Jokić, the Commander of the 9th Military Naval Sector (VPS) of the Yugoslav Navy, was sentenced for the unlawful attack on civilians within the Old Town of Dubrovnik, for the murder of two persons in the course of the attack, and for the cruel treatment, by wounding, of three others in the course of the same attack. He was convicted also for devastation not justified by military necessity and for unlawful attack on civilian objects. Finally, he was convicted for destruction or wilful damage done to institutions dedicated to religion, charity, and education, the arts and sciences, historic monuments and works of art and science.
In a statement he read in court, Jokić stated he had a moral and personal obligation to accept responsibility and to ask forgiveness for the acts of his subordinates:
“The fact that these lives were lost in the area for which I was responsible will remain etched in my consciousness for the rest of my life. I am ready to bow before all the victims of this conflict, regardless of the side they were on, with the dignity of a soldier”.
He went on to say:
“Furthermore, although I had already done that in the course of the shelling itself over the radio, and afterwards I did it again in person, I feel the obligation to express my deepest sympathy to the families of those who were killed and wounded and the citizens of Dubrovnik for the pain and all the damage that was caused to them by the unit under my command”.
The Trial Chamber sentenced Jokić to seven years’ imprisonment and the sentence was confirmed by the Appeals Chamber.
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For more information on the case please see the case information sheet at:
http://www.icty.org/x/cases/miodrag_jokic/cis/en/cis_jokic_en.pdf
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International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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