Appeals against a Verdict of Conviction for Serdari Crimes
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The Defence was also dissatisfied with the verdict. It said that the first instance Chamber determined the factual status in a wrong way, requesting the Court to either pronounce a verdict of release or order a retrial.
At the beginning of this year Planincic, Menzil and Vatrac, former members of the Territorial Defence in Kotor-Varos, were pronounced guilty of having participated in an attack on Serdari village on September 17, 1992, when 16 Serb civilians, including women and children, were killed.
Presenting his appeal, Prosecutor Stanko Blagic criticized the first instance Chamber, saying that it had not given sufficient consideration to the aggravating circumstances and that it had overrated the mitigating ones.
“Pronouncing a longer sentence would be the only fair solution,” he said.
The Defence of Planincic pointed out that the statements on which the verdict was based were neither convincing, logical nor clear. Defence attorney Bekir Ferizovic said that the verdict was incomprehensive and contradictory in itself.
Adil Draganovic, Defence attorney of Menzil, presenting a similar appeal. As he said, the evidence did not imply that Menzil was present in Serdari, when the crimes were committed, but that he was in the nearby home village.
“I consider that my client is really innocent,” he said.
Fadil Abaz, Defence attorney of Vatrac, said, presenting his appeal, that the first instance Chamber had not given due consideration to the evidence. According to him, there is not one single relevant piece of evidence related to Vatrac in the case file.
The Defence attorneys also said that the first instance Chamber did not allow them to invite and examine some witnesses. The Appellate Chamber of the Court of BiH will render a decision concerning the appeals at a later stage.
Rasim Lisancic, who was also tried in this case, was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in prison. Lisancic died after the pronouncement of the verdict, so the proceeding against him was discontinued.
