Bosnian Army Soldier Acquitted of Wartime Rape

Dulic, a former soldier with the Bosnian Army’s Fifth Corps, was acquitted on Friday of raping the woman in Beganovici village near Cazin in December 1993.

The woman’s husband, according to the indictment, was a member of the National Defence force of the Western Bosnia Autonomous Region, a self-proclaimed Bosniak statelet which existed between 1993 and 1995 and fought against the Bosnian Army.

According to presiding judge Mediha Pasic, the prosecution did not prove beyond reasonable doubt that Dulic was even present in Beganovici village.

“Through an analysis of all the evidence, the chamber concluded that the defendant was a member of the 501st brigade [of the Fifth Corps], and not the 510th, as is stated in the charges. The evidence also does not point to a conclusion that Dulic was ever in Beganovici in December 1993 where the crime took place,” said Pasic.

According to the judge, the statement given by the victim, who testified as a protected witness codenamed S1, was contradictory and did not lead to the clear conclusion that Dulic committed the rape.

“The chamber is certain beyond all doubt that the victim suffered a brutal and inhumane rape by two unknown soldiers, but the statement of witness S1 contains a series of inconsistencies about her conclusion that the defendant is one of the soldiers who raped her,” said the judge.

The victim was also unclear about when she learned the name of the defendant, and because of this, her statement “does not represent a logical foundation on which a conviction could be based”, Pasic added.

“Unlike S1’s statement, defence witnesses said that the defendant never drank alcohol and never misbehaved,” she said.

The verdict can be appealed.