A wartime Croatian military commander convicted for war crimes, Tomislav Mercep, has died at the age of 69, the Association of Croatian Homeland War Volunteer Fighters, of which Mercep was a long-standing president, reported on Tuesday.

Mercep, who died after a long illness, commanded a reserve police unit in Pakracka Poljana and also held the post of assistant defence minister during the 1991-95 war.

The Supreme Court sentenced him in 2017 to seven years in prison for war crimes against civilians as he failed to prevent members of his unit from committing crimes against Serb civilians in Pakracka Poljana, western Slavonia.