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Niset Ramic, also known as Mindjusa (earring), has been found guilty by a first instance verdict of the War Crimes Chamber of the Court of BiH for the shooting of civilians in the village of Hlapcevici, Visoko municipality in 1992, and sentenced to long-term imprisonment.
Ramic is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for severe banditry and murders committed during the war. This verdict and the one sentencing him to ten years of imprisonment for war crimes have been conjoined into one long-term prison sentence of 30 years.
Trial Chamber Chairman Hilmo Vucinic said that the Court had found the indictee – a former member of the Commandos Squad within the Territorial Defence (TO) in Visoko – guilty of “having participated together with other TO members, in June 1992, in the disarmament of the Serbian population in Visoko and in the shooting of civilians in the village of Hlapcevici”.
The first instance verdict indicates that Ramic is guilty of the murders of Danica Damjanovic, Dusanka and Zeljko Ristic and Slavko Damjanovic, and the wounding of Sretko Masal and Zorana Damjanovic.
“The Trial Chamber considers that Ramic was aware of the acts he committed and that he deliberately killed four people and thus deprived them of their right to life, freedom and safety. A Court expert neuro-psychiatrist confirmed that Ramic’s conscientiousness had not been significantly reduced at the moment the crime had been committed,” Vucinic has explained.
According to Vucinic, the Trial Chamber has taken into consideration, as a mitigating circumstance, the fact that, at the time the crime was committed, Ramic was “a young person, traumatised by his capture during the war in Croatia and that he has expressed regret”.
“His persistence in committing the crimes and his brutality as well as the fact that he had a previous criminal record represent aggravating circumstances,” the Chamber’s chairman added.
In his closing remarks, Ramic confirmed that he had murdered four people and wounded one other, but he denied wounding Sretko Masal and argued that this individual had not been among the civilians.
But the Court disagreed, finding Ramic guilty of the offence.
“Sretko Masal was indeed taken out of his house to a shooting and this has been confirmed by witnesses and Masal himself,” Vucinic has said.
The Court of BiH confirmed the indictment against Ramic on 13 October 2006 and the trial commenced in December 2006.
During the evidence process, the Prosecution examined five witnesses, including the survivors of the shooting – namely Zoran Damjanovic and Sretko Masal – and two court experts. The Defence examined ten witnesses.
During the seven months since the beginning of the trial, Ramic has changed his attorney four times.
In their closing remarks, the Defence and the indictee said that they would consider a ten-year sentence a fair one and would not file an appeal against such a decision.
