Milivoj Petković


Milivoj Petković is a Bosnian Croat army officer who is among six defendants convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in relation to the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia during the Bosnian War. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail but only served four.
The ICTY Appeals Chamber affirmed almost all of the convictions against Petković and his co-defendants, as well as their original length of sentence, on 29 November 2017.

Background

Milivoj Petković was born in Šibenik, Dalmatia, FPR Yugoslavia. He was a career military officer, graduating from the Yugoslav People's Army military academy. In July 1991 he left the JNA to join the new Croatian Army. In 1992 he was ordered by Croatian Army General Janko Bobetko to take over the Croatian Army's forward command center in the town of Grude, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, this force would later become the HVO armed forces. He was Chief of Staff of HVO until about 5 August 1994.
A General in the Croatian Army, he was partially disabled due to a concussion and spine injury sustained in June 1992 while driving near the Neretva River, as documented by the authorities of the then-Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia.
Petković voluntarily surrendered to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on 5 April 2004. He was granted provisional release on 22 April 2008, after serving only four years of a twenty-year sentence. However, his original 20 year sentence was later upheld on 29 November 2017.

Indictment

In the indictment it is alleged that, as the overall HVO commander, Petković directly commanded the Herceg-Bosna/HVO armed forces and is responsible for its actions. It is alleged that among other things the HVO armed forces:
The charges were: