Lazarevic et al: 21 Years’ Imprisonment for Zvornik Crimes
This post is also available in: Bosnian
By the second instance verdict Lazarevic is sentenced to nine, Stanojevic to seven and Ostojic to five years in prison.
“This Chamber considers the allegations that Sreten Lazarevic, Dragan Stanojevic and Slobodan Ostojic undertook certain actions at the time, place and in the manner described in the indictment, grounded and proved beyond reasonable doubt. In that way, they committed crimes against civilians,” Appellate Chamber Chairman Mirza Jusufovic said.
The retrial of the four former PSS members from Zvornik, conducted before the State Court, began in May this year, after the first instance verdict, sentencing them to 27 years in total, was revoked. By the first instance verdict Lazarevic was sentenced to 10, Stanojevic to seven and both Markovic and Ostojic to five years in prison.
Lazarevic is sentenced by the second instance verdict for having personally beaten Nurija Nuhanovic and allowing others to beat Ramiz Smajlovic and Sejfo Omerovic, while he is acquitted of the charges that he allowed “members of paramilitary groups” to enter the prison and “mistreat detainees”.
“The Chamber considers that those people were undoubtedly mistreated by paramilitary groups. These mistreatments represent brutal and cruel crimes. However, the Prosecution was not able to prove that Sreten Lazarevic was able to prevent them from entering the prison,” Jusufovic explained.
Dragan Stanojevic and Slobodan Ostojic are sentenced for causing the “severe physical and mental suffering” of detainees who were held in the “Novi izvor” building in Zvornik.
By the second instance verdict Markovic has been acquitted of the charges that he participated in the beating of Nurija Nuhanovic. The Appellate Chamber explained that, right after the beating Nuhanovic told other detainees that he “did not know who had beaten him up”, adding he said later that this had been done by Mile Markovic.
“The Chamber has determined that the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina has not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Markovic participated in the beating. (…) We consider it illogical for Nuhanovic to accuse Markovic of the beating so much later,” Jusufovic said.
As stated by the Appellate Chamber Chairman, when deciding about the sentence, the Court considered the fact that the crimes were committed “by people who had power over their victims” as an aggravating circumstance, while it considered the convicts’ family status and their good behaviour during the course of the trial as mitigating circumstances.
“We should particularly consider the fact that paramilitary forces made the work of prison guards more difficult and the fact that the witnesses said the four indictees helped them during the course of their detention,” Jusufovic said.
After having pronounced the verdict, the Appellate Chamber ordered Lazarevic, Stanojevic and Ostojic into custody, which may last until they have been sent to a prison to serve their sentences.
The parties do not have the right to appeal the verdict.
