On 20 November 2025, the Higher Court in Belgrade delivered a judgment convicting Jovan Radan, a former member of the Serbian Territorial Defense, and sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment for the rape of a woman committed in Vukovar in October and November 1991, during the armed conflict on the territory of the Republic of Croatia. The rape took place in a house to which uniformed Serbs had taken the victim, where other women had also been raped.
The presiding judge stated decisively that the defendant’s guilt had been proven, that the victim’s testimony was credible and logical, and that the statements of two female witnesses based on indirect knowledge had significant evidentiary value. He stressed that a judgment and sentence handed down 34 years after the crime cannot be considered justice, but also assessed that a seven-year prison sentence fulfils the purpose of punishment, as it is consistent with judicial practice – above the prescribed minimum and closer to the prescribed maximum. He additionally noted that the defendant is “a family man” and said that the court also took that fact into consideration when determining the sentence.
The HLC monitored the trial. Unlike in other cases, the proceedings against Jovan Radan were brief, conducted efficiently and without delay.
However, HLC has serious objections to the reasoning of the court regarding the length of the prison sentence, particularly the reference to the defendant being a “family man” and the conclusion that a seven-year sentence achieves the purpose of punishment. In HLC’s view, the judgment and the prison sentence imposed will discourage victims of rape from reporting war crimes, and from appearing in the courtroom face to face with the defendant, for whose family situation the judges have shown more understanding than for the trauma and violated dignity of the rape victim.
