Ljubisa Vranjes and Mladen Milic Each Sentenced to Ten Years

Stanisa Gluhajic, Chairman of the Trial Chamber with the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that Vranjes and Milic were found guilty of having assisted one person to take the Grgic brothers from Nenad Tesic’s house and take them to the municipality building, where two of the brothers were killed, while the third one was injured. This happened on June 6, 1992 during the armed conflict in Kotor-Varos.
 
“The State Court has considered the fact that the two convicts are family men as a mitigating circumstance, while the fact that Mladen Milic was previously sentenced in Banja Luka has been considered an aggravating circumstance,” judge Gluhajic said.
 
The parties have the right to file an appeal with the Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 
The State Prosecution’s indictment, which was revised on September 27, 2011, alleges, among other things, that the indictees acted as accomplices, not as murder perpetrators, as alleged under the original indictment. Vranjes is former member of the Public Safety Center from Banja Luka, while Milic was member of the “7551 Military Post in Banja Luka”.
 
Explaining the verdict, the Trial Chamber Chairman said that, on June 6, 1992 the indictees and one more person came to Nenad Tesic’s house, knowing that brothers Ivo, Zdravko and Viktor Grgic were in the house. Indictee Vranjes then ordered them to come with them for an examination.
 
Gluhajic said that indictee Milic, who drove a Ford Escort, drove the civilians and his colleagues to the municipality building in Kotor-Varos, where they were ordered to go to a monument erected in honour of fallen soldiers of the Second World War. The third person then started shooting, killing Ivo and Zdravko Grgic, while Viktor, who was shot twice on his hand, ran away from that place.
 
The original indictment of the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina also covered Goran Markovic, former member of “7551 Military Post in Banja Luka”, who is charged with having shot at the prisoners, who had been brought to the fallen soldiers monument. Pursuant to a decision rendered by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the case against Markovic was separated from the case against the two other indictees due to Markovic’s illness.
 
Vranjes and Milic defended themselves while at liberty, but they were ordered into custody following the pronouncement of the first instance verdict.