Ratko Dronjak Sentence Reduced

Applying a more favourable law, the Bosnian state court reduced Ratko Dronjak’s sentence for war crimes in Drvar by three years.

Under the new verdict, Dronjak was sentenced to 15 years in prison according to the Criminal Code of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

In May 2013, Dronjak was sentenced to 18 years in prison under a second instance verdict.

However, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina quashed the part of the verdict which sentenced Dronjak for war crimes against prisoners of war according to the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, instead of the Criminal Code of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which prescribes shorter sentences against perpetrators in such cases.

The trial was then renewed at the Bosnian state court, but only dealt with the issue of the application of law.

Dronjak was a manager of detention facilities at Drvar. He was found guilty of participating in the establishment and implementation of a system for abuse inflicted upon civilians and captured soldiers of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croatian Defense Council. This took place at the Slavko Rodic school and the Kamenica detention camp.

The detainees, who were held in bad conditions, were beaten daily. 45 of them did not survive detention.