Two Years In Prison For Luka Peric

On Monday, Peric was found guilty of inciting two Croatian Defence Council members to abuse one detainee and forcing four prisoners of war to injure themselves by jumping head-first onto concrete from a height of one metre.

Explaining the verdict, Hamo Kebo, presiding judge of the Trial Chamber, said that the court decided to trust the witnesses for the Mostar cantonal prosecution who spoke of the abuse in the Gabela camp.

“Peric wanted Sefik Kovacic to be physically abused behind the hangar of the former Yugoslav People’s Army, so he instigated two members of the Croatian Defence Council to abuse him,” said Kebo and explained that Kovacic had to lie down in a push-up position, after which he was beaten all over his body.

One of the soldiers, said judge Kebo, then took a branch from a tree and beat up Kovacic on his head, which is why he fainted.
Peric was also found guilty of – together with other members of the Croatian Defence Council – forcing Ekrem Pekaz, Huso Maric and Esad and Mirsada Peco in mid-July 1993 to inflict wounds on themselves, forcing them to jump on the head on the concrete floor from the height of one to meter and a half.

The verdict can be appealed at the supreme court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.