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On May 25, 2015, the Bosnian state court sentenced Zaim Lalicic to nine years in prison for the rape and inhumane treatment of civilians in the Hrasnica area near Sarajevo in 1992 and 1993.
The defense filed an appeal based on alleged violations of criminal proceedings and law, incorrectly and incompletely determined facts and the previous court’s decisions with regards to criminal and legal sanctions.
Sabina Mehic, Lalicic’s defense attorney, said one of the injured parties in the case didn’t give detailed testimony on her rape. She said the first instance chamber sentenced Lalicic for approximately ten instances of rape based on this injured party’s statement.
The defense said the first instance chamber trusted the testimony of defense witness O-1 only when it corresponded with the testimony of prosecution witnesses.
Mehic said a court-ordered neuropsychiatrist had been invited to testify in similar cases, and said the prosecution was obliged to have done the same in this case.
The prosecution called upon the court to reject the appeal as unfounded.
“We didn’t insist on details. That’s a question of decency…The defense has interpreted this as an omission and asks the court to acquit the defendant on this basis,” prosecutor Vladimir Simovic said.
Simovic said O-1 “doesn’t want to say certain things,” because he lives in the same town as Lalicic.
The chamber will respond to the appeal in writing at a later stage.
