Bosnian Court Acts on Strasbourg Decision
This post is also available in: Bosnian
This decision was brought after the European Court for Human Rights in July found that the Bosnian Court wrongly applied the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2003 at the trials of Abduladhim Maktouf and Goran Damjanovic.
The State court also ordered that the trial of Zoran Damjanovic, who was tried with Goran Damjanovic, also be renewed.
Goran Damjanovic was sentenced in 2007 to 11 years in prison for crimes against civilians in Bojnik near Sarajevo, while his brother Zoran was sentenced to ten-and-a-half years imprisonment.
“The verdict of the European Court found a violation of the European convention on human rights against Goran Damjanovic, considering that the Criminal Code of the former Yugoslavia from 1976 was supposed to have been used, instead of the Criminal Code of BiH from 2003,” said the Bosnian Court in a statement.
The Court concluded that there are reasons to renew the trial of Zoran Damjanovic, although he did not file a request.
“In the retrial, the Bosnian Court will act in accordance with the European Convention for protection of human rights and basic liberties”, said the Bosnian court.
The parties and defendants have the opportunity to appeal this decision of the Bosnian Court within three days.
According to Senad Kreho, Goran Damjanovic’s lawyer, the trial will not be completely renewed.
“We have asked the criminal proceedings to be renewed and there will only be one hearing. The criminal offence was determined and this is not in question. The only thing we will question is the extenuating circumstances, according to the Law on criminal proceedings, where the minimal punishment is five years”, said Kreho.
Kreho filed an appeal to the Court in Strasbourg in June 2008 and the European Court reached a decision earlier this year.
In his request for retrial, the defence of Damjanovic asked for his sentence to be frozen and he be released, but the Bosnian Court rejected this and said the final determination will be made after a new verdict is brought.
