Bosnian Croat Fighter Acquitted of Wartime Sexual Abuse

Juric was found not guilty on Monday of sexually abusing a Bosnian Serb woman and physically abusing Serb children in Odzak in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992.

Presiding judge Davorin Jukic said that the prosecution failed to prove the counts of the indictment.

Jukic said that the victim Milica Djekic explained in detail how she was raped, and that the trial chamber believed her testimony, but added that the judges did not find sufficient evidence that Juric took part in the crime.

“The chamber notes some inconsistencies in the statements of witnesses. Djekic said she was certain that Juric, whom she knew from before, was in the car with which she was taken with her sister Ljubica Lesic. However, witness Lesic did not mention Juric, but listed other fighters,” said Jukic.

According to the trial chamber, inconsistencies in the statements of prosecution witnesses also led to Juric’s acquittal on charges of abusing two children in Odzak in 1992.

“The prosecution questioned [the children’s mother] Marinka Lesic who said that she watched Juric hit the children against a concrete wall. There are irregularities there because the children later arrived at an apartment without visible injuries, according to statements. Because of this lack of concrete evidence, the chamber found Juric not guilty,” said judge Jukic.

The court also found that Juric did not abuse the child of another woman, Ljubica Lesic.

“Ljubica Lesic never said in her statements that Juric hit her child in the chest,” said Jukic.

The verdict can be appealed.