Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued sentences in 2014 totalling 300 years in prison

During 2014, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has sentenced 25 individuals for war crimes, and imposed 321 years’ worth of prison sentences.

Ten people, who were altogether sentenced to 114 years, were imprisoned, while the other 15 persons are at the appeal stage. The Court has brought seven acquittals for war crimes, four of which were first instance verdicts.

During this year, a more lenient law – the Criminal Code of the former Yugoslavia – has been applied to 15 convicts. After the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina suspended the second instant verdicts, hearings, which discussed the level of fines, were held. At the hearings, the indictees received a total of 232 years in prison instead of the previous 334 years.

For four convicts, including Abduladhim Maktouf, the verdicts imposed by the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina were also suspended, but the second instance verdicts are yet to be announced.

The suspension of the verdicts came after the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg accepted the appeals of Maktouf and Goran Damjanovic, who claimed that in their cases, the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina should not have been applied, but the more lenient Criminal Code of the former Yugoslavia.

This year was also marked the escape of Novak Djukic to Serbia. Djukic was on released to liberty in February this year, after his first instance verdict was suspended because it had been brought under the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He had been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder of 71 people at Tuzlanska kapija.

In the summer 2014, his sentence was reduced by five years after the application of the Criminal Code of the former Yugoslavia. Since he also has Serbian citizenship, Djukic took the advantage of the freedom and fled to Serbia, from where he cannot be extradited to Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to be returned to prison.

He can serve his sentence in Serbia, since in 2010, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina signed an agreement in a bid to stop prisoners from seeking refuge in each other’s countries to avoid going to prison.

This year, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina changed the Rulebook on Obtaining Access to Information and overturned the anonymisation of verdicts and other decisions after more than two years.

However, the clause for issuing ten-minute audio and video material from the trials, which is often not usable for journalistic work, still remains in force. Under the Rulebook, the issuing of photos of indictees is suspended with an explanation that the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is not authorised to do that anymore.

Not convicted and family men

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued the highest second instance verdict to Veselin Vlahovic, known as Batko, and the lowest to Drazen Mikulic.

The Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina reduced Vlahovic’s sentence by three years in relation to the first instance verdict, so he was sentenced to 42 years in prison for multiple murders, rapes, and other crimes in Sarajevo’s three districts, which were under the control of the Serb army.

“All that is accompanied by a particularly cold and insolent behaviour pattern which resulted in the fact that witnesses, direct and indirect victims, characterised him as a monster from Grbavica, as the notorious Batko,” said judge Zoran Bozic during the issuing of the first instant verdict.

Mikulic was sentenced to a year-and-a-half of imprisonment for abuse of the Bosniak civilians in the Dretelj detention camp in Capljina.

“As mitigating circumstances, the Chamber took in account Mikulic’s earlier life, the fact that he has not been previously convicted and that he is the father of three young children as well as that he was very young at the time when he committed the crime,” said Dragomir Vukoje, Chairman of the Appellate Chamber.

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced eight other people by second instance verdicts. Muhidin Basic and Mirsad Sijak were sentenced to seven years in prison for the rape of one Croat woman in Vares, while Zoran Milic was sentenced for participating in the murder of Bosniak civilians and the harassment of one Bosniak family in Busovaca.

Predrag Prosic was sentenced to three years in prison for his participation in the unlawful detention of Bosniaks from Sanski Most, while Marko Adamovic was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Bosko Lukic, who is on the run, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for crimes against non-Serbs in Kljuc. Najdan Mladjenovic was sentenced to three-and-a-half years for crimes against Bosniaks in the area of Bratunac.

Savo Zivkovic, Goran Saric and Osman Brkan were acquitted under the second instance verdicts.

The Appeals Chamber confirmed the first instance verdict by which Brkan was acquitted of his involvement in the murder of a Serb elderly woman in the village of Blace (Konjic municipality). Savo Zivkovic was acquitted of all charges for war crimes in Bratunac.

After the abolition of the first instance verdict, by which Saric was sentenced to 14 years in prison, a retrial was held. Saric was acquitted by the decision of the Appellate Chamber. He was convicted of crimes against non-Serbs in the Sarajevo municipality of Centar.

Saric was found guilty for the separation of the three groups of Bosniak men who were detained in the Jagomir Psychiatric Hospital in Sarajevo. He left the third group of detainees in Jagomir, knowing that they would be killed. He was acquitted in a retrial.

As stated in the second instance verdict, “it is not clear from the evidence that he ordered the transfer of population and imprisonment of men, thus the indictee’s role in it is not clear.”

The maximum first instance verdict was imposed against Dragomir Soldat, Velemir Djuric and Zoran Babic. They were sentenced to 21 years in prison each for crimes against Bosniaks in the village of Carakovo near Prijedor.

“The gravity of the crime is that all nine people who were killed were relatives, thus it is the multiple loss,” said Mira Smjalovic, Chairwoman of the Trial Chamber.
Retrials
Out of the 11 first instance verdicts, the Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina abolished two of them and ordered a retrial.

The verdicts of Veselko and Ivo Raguz were abolished and they were acquitted of charges for crimes against Bosniaks in Stolac and Capljina. The sentence for Zeljko Jukic was also abolished. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison for crimes against Bosniaks in Prozor.

During 2014, the Appeals Chamber suspended the acquittal of Sava Babic brought in December 2013, and ordered a retrial.

According to BIRN, the four convicts are released from prison on parole. Those are Alija Osmic, brothers Goran and Zoran Damjanovic, and Savo Todorovic, whose prison sentence has not yet expired.

Three indictees passed away this year. Rasim Lisancic died after the first instance verdict by which he was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in prison for his involvement in the attack on the village of Serdar, near Kotor Varos. Sixteen Serbian civilians, including women and children were killed in that attack.

Rade Skoric and Nedjeljko Kuljic died during the evidentiary proceedings of the Prosecution. Skoric was on trial for crimes in Kotor Varos, while Kuljic was indicted for crimes in Bileca.

During this year, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has not concluded any plea agreements.