Local Justice Bejtic: Acquittal Verdict Revoked
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In its decision, the FBiH Supreme Court ordered the Cantonal Court to conduct a retrial at which it would correct the violations of the criminal proceedings provisions, also taking into consideration other parts of the Prosecution’s appeal, including incompletely determined facts.In November 2010, Hajrija Hadziahmetovic-Muftic, FBiH Prosecutor, presented the appeal against the verdict of release before the Appellate Chamber of the FBiH Supreme Court.At that session Hadziahmetovic-Muftic said the Cantonal Court wrongly determined the facts, calling on the Court to order a retrial. The Defence of the indictee asked the Court to reject the Prosecution’s appeal as groundless.In July 2006, Samir Bejtic, former member of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was sentenced by the Sarajevo Cantonal Court to 14 years and six months in prison for the murder of civilians committed at Kazani locality in Sarajevo.In January 2007, the FBiH Supreme Court ordered a retrial in this case. In June 2008, Bejtic was acquitted of the charges that he committed murder, beating and abuse of civilians.Among other counts, Bejtic is charged with having taken Zoran Vucurevic to a location controlled by the ABiH in front of the division line on December 25, 1992, and killed him by shooting him with a revolver. He then allegedly poured a chemical agent over his body and set him on fire.The trial of Bejtic before the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo was conducted according to the Criminal Code of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFRJ, and not the Criminal Code of FBiH, because the indictment was filed prior to the adoption of the Federal Code. S.U.————————————————————————————————This article is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID.) The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of Balkan investigative reporting network (BIRN) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
