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The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina called on the Appellate Chamber to pronounce Kovac guilty, claiming it was “very easy to determine”, on the basis of presented evidence, that the indictee committed war crimes against civilians.
“All witnesses whom we examined confirmed that they were arrested as unarmed civilians. In its decision-making process, the Court should assess the gravity of the crimes, which include, among others, inhumane treatment of civilians and attacks on their personal dignity in relation to the rape of two witnesses, one of whom was a minor at the time,” State Prosecutor Mirko Lecic said.
By the first instance verdict, pronounced in July 2009, Kovac was found guilty and sentenced to 13 years in prison for having ordered, approved and committed the unlawful detention of Bosniak civilians in the cinema hall and Public Accounting Services building in Vitez.
At the time he was Commander of the Military Police Squad with the Vitez Brigade of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO.
In addition, Kovac was found guilty of having raped protected witnesses A and B.
After the parties filed appeals, the Appellate Chamber revoked the first instance verdict and ordered a retrial, which began in May 2010.
Indictee Kovac’s Defence is due to start presenting its closing arguments on November 5.
