The trial of four Croatian officers, who are accused of firing rockets at a column of refugees on Petrovacka cesta near Bosanski Petrovac in August 1995, should be scheduled soon, Politika daily writes Saturday.

As the newspaper states, the Court of Appeal in Belgrade confirmed the indictment charging Vladimir Mikac, Zdenko Radulja, Zeljko Jelenic and Danijel Borovic with war crimes against the civilian population as co-perpetrators.

On August 11 of this year, the War Crimes Department of the Court of Appeals in Belgrade issued a decision rejecting as unfounded all appeals by the defendants against the first instance verdict, i.e. decisions by which the Criminal Extra-Trial Chamber of the High Court in Belgrade confirmed the indictment.

“According to the order of the Court of Appeals, the first instance court correctly concluded that there is enough evidence in this particular case to raise the reasonable suspicion that the defendants committed a war crime against the civilian population as co-perpetrators to the level of justified suspicion, which is a necessary condition for indictment,” the spokesperson of the Court of Appeals, Mirjana Piljic said.

The War Crimes Prosecutor's Office proposed to the Court that the trial against the defendants be conducted in their absence.