Local Justice Tanasic and Boroja: Seven Years for Crimes in Banja Luka
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The District Court in Banja Luka has sentenced Nenad Tanasic and Tihomir Boroja, former members of the Public Safety Center in that town, to three and a half years each for participating in crimes against civilians in 1995. TrialChamber Chairwoman Olga Malesevic said that the Banja Luka District Court has determined that Tanasic and Boroja committed war crimes, but the Prosecution had not proved that they were responsible for the death of Nazifa Somic.The Court did not come across any aggravating circumstances in the case of the two indictees. Hence, it pronounced shorter imprisonment sentences. The fact that they have not been sentenced before, their correct conduct in court and the fact that they are family men were considered mitigating circumstances, Malesevic said.The verdict says that, on September 19, 1995 Tanasic and Boroja came to Nazifa Somic’s house in Vojvode Stepe Stepanovica Street in Obilicevo, Banja Luka and tried to kill her son Muharem, whom they beat up, drove to Vrbanja and dropped him out of the car, thinking that he was dead.According to the verdict, Muharem was conscious and heard one of them telling the other: Shoot, and the other man responding: Why would you shoot. You can see he is dead. Tanasic and Boroja then went back to the Somic’s house and took Nazifa in an unknown direction. The body of Nazifa Somic was found in River Vrbas canyon in Tijesno village, near Banja Luka on July 25, 1996.Tanasic and Boroja were arrested in mid December last year. They have been held in custody since. Following the pronouncement of the verdict, the District Court in Banja Luka terminated their custody. The time Tanasic and Boroja have spent in custody, from December 14 last year, will be taken into account in their sentences.G.O.———————————————————————————————–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.
