State Prosecution Requests Longer Sentence for Redzep Beganovic
This post is also available in: Bosnian
State prosecutor Nermina Mutevelic requested that the court sentence Beganovic to more than five years of imprisonment.
On May 10, 2013, the cantonal court of Bihac sentenced Beganovic to five years in prison for the inhumane treatment and attempted rape of a minor in December 1993.
The verdict says he committed the crime during the conflict between the National Defense of the Western Bosnia Autonomous Region and the Bosnian Army.
Defense attorney Ilijas Midzic asked the court to repeal the verdict and order a retrial before the cantonal court in Bihac or to revise the verdict and acquit his client. Midzic said the identity of his client and Hazim Keranovic, since deceased, had been confused.
According to the first instance verdict, Beganovic, Keranovic and Amir Coralic, who is not available to Bosnian judicial bodies, physically abused Ferid Covic, because his son Enes was a member of the Fifth Corps of the Bosnian Army.
The verdict says that Beganovic, along with Keranovic and Coralic, forcibly took two minors from their house and drove them to the village of Trzac. The defendant tried to rape of one them, but, according to the verdict, Keranovic stopped him.
Beganovic, who has Danish citizenship, maintains his innocence.
“I don’t feel guilty. Had I felt guilty, I would not have come back since 2006. The Danish Kingdom would never extradite me to Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Beganovic said.
The Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina will render a decision at a later stage.
