Local Justice: A Moral Act
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Victims and families of people who were killed in the shelling of Tuzla on May 25, 1995, filed suits with the RS Attorney General’s Office seeking financial compensation for mental pain and suffering caused by the loss of their loved ones and permanent bodily injuries they suffered on that day.
The victims said that their suits are based on a second instance verdict pronounced against Novak Djukic, former Commander of Ozren Tactical Group with the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, who was sentenced by Bosnia’s State Court to 25 years in prison for war crimes against civilians.
Djukic was sentenced for having ordered his units, which were situated on Mount Ozren, near Tuzla, to shell the part of the town known as Kapija on May 25, 1995, when 71 people were killed and about 130 were wounded.
On that day Hilmo Bucuk lost his daughter Lejla at Kapija. He is among those who have filed suits with the Attorney General’s Office of Republika Srpska, claiming that the verdict against Djukic “also means a verdict has been pronounced against the VRS”.
Bucuk thinks that this act is one of the ways to see that those who are responsible are punished, stressing that no money can pay for the suffering of parents who lost their children.
Attorneys Amila Kunosic-Ferizovic and Miralem Porobic represent victims in this case. Porobic said that the compensation would be determined through an expert analysis.
“This is more an act of moral obligation in order to determine who is responsible. (…) I do not think anyone can deny the rights of the injured parties and their family members,” Porobic said.
The Office of Attorney General of Republika Srpska says that the individual suits are “groundless and unregulated”.
A.H.
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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.
