Savic Presents Appeal at Bosnian State Court

In June 2015, the state court found Savic, a former member of the Bosnian Serb Army, guilty of abducting a civilian from her home and taking her the Krivoglavci station in Semizovac in the municipality of Vogosca in May and June 1993, while pointing a gun at her. He ordered the civilian to take her clothes off and perform oral sex. He then raped her in his car.

Defense attorney Nevenka Vitomir said statements given by A, the injured party, were contradictory and untrue. Vitomir said the verdict shouldn’t have been based on her testimony.

“Each of the statements she gave to the Association of Women, Victims of War in 2007 and the prosecution later on, as well as the two instances of testimony she gave at the main trial, are different. In the statement she gave to the association, she gave a detailed description of how unknown soldiers raped her in the retirement center in Vogosca…She confirmed this at the main trial in February, but in May denied having been raped by anybody before by the defendant,” Vitomir said.

During the announcement of the initial verdict, trial chamber chair Mira Smajlovic said A, the injured party, got pregnant after the first rape and had an abortion later on.

Smajlovic said that certain inconsistencies in A’s statements weren’t considered of key importance in the case, such as whether she was raped prior to being raped by the defendant in 1993.

Presenting her appeal, defense attorney Vitomir said the state court chamber was biased during the first instance trial. She said Smajlovic “treated the defendant with a preconceived opinion that he was undoubtedly the perpetrator of the crime during the entire course of the trial.”

The defense said the findings prepared by a court medical expert should not have been included in the case file as evidence. She said the findings were prepared at the request of the injured party’s representative in order to fill a property and legal claim.

“This is the first time I have heard that a nongovernmental organization has some role in criminal proceedings. The law clearly prescribes that an order to conduct an expert examination can only be issued by the court and prosecution. We believe that this evidence should not have been the basis for rendering any type of decision,” Vitomir said.

Under the first instance verdict, Savic was ordered to pay 30,000 Marks to A for compensation of non-material damage. They payment was to be made no later than 90 days after the verdict became legally binding.

Savic also addressed the appeals chamber today. He said he wasn’t in Vogosca when the rape took place. He also said he wasn’t a military police officer at the time, as indicated by A in her statements.

“The defendant said during the main trial that he was not in Semizovac at that time. However, the evidence presented by both the prosecution and defense indicate the opposite…The injured party can’t be expected to know which formation the defendant belonged to,” prosecutor Vladimir Simovic said.

The prosecution called upon the appeals chamber to reject the appeal and confirm the state court verdict.

The chamber will render a decision concerning the appeal at a later stage.