229 Years of Imprisonment for Convictions Reached Through Plea Agreements
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Out of the 148 persons who were convicted under second instance verdicts for war crimes at the state court, approximately 20 percent of those cases were resolved through plea agreements between the defendants and the state prosecution.
Idhan Sipic, a former member of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, made the first plea agreement with the state prosecution in February 2008. Sipic was accused of murdering Andja Banjac in the village of Korjenovo Brdo above Sanica, in the municipality of Kljuc, in 1995.
According the plea agreement, Sipic confessed to the crime and agreed to the state court verdict of eight years in prison.
The highest sentence to result from a plea agreement – such as 15 years in prison – was handed down to Miroslav Anic, for war crimes committed in Kiseljak and Vares, and to Zoran Maric, for war crimes committed in Jajce.
Anic, a former member of the Maturice Special Operations Detachment of the Croatian Defence Council, plead guilty to participating in the murder of civilians in the villages of Grahovica and Han-Ploca in the municipality of Kiseljak in June 1993, as well as participating in the attack on the village of Stupni Do in the municipality of Vares in October 1993, in which 38 civilians were killed.
“I apologize once again and I repent for all the evil I have done to people and victims of my misdeeds,” Anic said, addressing the trial chamber.
On the other hand, the shortest sentences – such as five years in prison – were handed down to Milivoje Cirkovic and Zoran Kusic for war crimes committed in Srebrenica, to Elvir Jakupovic for war crimes committed in Travnik, and to Osman Sego for murder committed in Bugojno.
The majority of plea agreements were made between 2009 to 2011. However, since the summer of 2012 – for three years – not a single plea agreement has been reached between accused of war crimes and the state prosecution.
On the basis of the last plea agreement reached in 2012, brothers Saban and Elvir Djelilbasic were sentenced to six years in prison. The brothers had killed two Serb civilians in Turbe, near Travnik, in 1992, after they learned that that their brother had been killed fighting members of the Army of Republika Srpska.
The state prosecution claims that in reaching a plea bargain they prioritize the interests of victims and request adequate punishment for the defendant.
“What’s most important for the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is to obtain useful information and testimony. We’re particularly interested in information about the whereabouts of posthumous remains, which families have been searching for for over two decades,” says Boris Grubesic, the spokesperson of the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
After Damir Ivankovic’s plea agreement, which convicted him of killing more than 100 residents of Prijedor at Koricanske Stijene in the summer of 1992, the state prosecution said through the agreement they obtained helpful information in finding the posthumous remains of victims of the killing.
