Longer Sentence or Acquittal of Vrtunic
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The Defence proposed to the Court to either acquit Vrtunic of charges or quash the verdict, under which the Cantonal Court in Bihac sentenced him to ten years in prison in July this year, and order a retrial to be conducted in Bihac.
The Bihac Cantonal Court sentenced Vrtunic, the then member of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, with having participated, along with others, in physical mistreatment of Ale Strkunic and murder of his wife and mother in Mali Rejzovici village, Kljuc municipality, in November 1992.
Federal Prosecutor Munib Halilovic proposed to the Court to uphold an appeal filed by the Bihac Cantonal Prosecution and pronounce longer imprisonment sentence against the indictee and reject the Defence’s appeal as unfounded.
“The Federal Prosecution sticks to an appeal filed by the Bihac Cantonal Prosecution, which contains a detailed explanation of why the Defence’s proposals should be rejected,” Halilovic said.
Marinko Brkic, Defence attorney of the indictee, said that he stuck to his written response to the Prosecution’s appeal.
“My client was not in Kljuc but he was in his Unit. I think that poor Ale Strkunic mixed him up with somebody and pointed to him out of fear. This man is innocent,” said Brkic, pointing towards the indictee.
Indictee Vrtunic said that he had nothing to do with the crime, pointing out that he was not present in Kljuc at the time.
He requested the Court to terminate his custody. His Defence attorney Brkic made the same request, claiming that he would not interfere with the proceedings and that he would respond to invitation to appear in court regularly.
Vrtunic was brought to this hearing from the Penal and Correctional Facility in Bihac, where he has been held since February 22, 2013.
“The Federal Prosecution objects to termination of custody, because the custody measure is the only way to make sure that the proceeding will be conducted uninterruptedly,” said Halilovic.
The Supreme Court of the Federation will render a decision at a later stage.
