Bosnian Croat Jailed for Assaulting Wounded Prisoners

The cantonal court in Zenica convicted Adzic on Thursday after prosecution witnesses “convincingly and credibly” described his crimes in an improvised treatment room at a primary school in Zepca during wartime, according to the presiding judge, Nermin Tresnjak.

Azdic and another person came into the room and assaulted the sick people being treated there, even shooting one of them, Tresnjak said.

“These witnesses knew Adzic from earlier and concretely and convincingly described how he, with another person, entered the hospital room, expelled the wounded people who could walk, came to [patient] Nazim Grabus, put a gun to his forehead and asked ‘where do you want me to shoot?’, broke his infusion tube and then shot the wounded Nermin Purk between the neck and shoulder,” he explained.

The judge said that Adzic was sentenced to four years in prison after the court considered several mitigating circumstances: that he partially confessed to the crime, that he has a diminished mental capacity and was young at the time of the office, and that he behaved correctly during the trial.

Tesnjak added that the court rejected the defence’s objections that Adzic didn’t know that international humanitarian law protects the wounded and sick.

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