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The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina partially repealed a verdict which sentenced Vukovic to 31 years in prison for committing genocide in Srebrenica. The appeals chamber of the Bosnian state court is now redeliberating upon the sentence.
In 2003, the Bosnian state court found Vukovic guilty of participating in the execution of more than 1000 Bosniak captives in Kravica in July 1995. Vukovic was a member of the Second Squad of the Republika Srpska special police force from Sekovici.
On October 27, 2015, the constitutional court partially repealed the verdict and transferred the case to the Bosnian state court’s appeals chamber. According to the constitutional court, Vukovic was incorrectly sentenced according to the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The court established that Vukovic should have been sentenced according to the Criminal Code of Yugoslavia, which foresees shorter sentences in such cases.
Prosecutor Ibro Bulic proposed that the chamber hand down a sentence in accordance with the constitutional court’s decision. He said he reaffirmed all of the aggravating circumstances he listed in his closing statement. Bulic said Vukovic’s sentence shouldn’t be shorter than 20 years.
Vukovic’s defense attorney, Radivoje Lazarevic, said the sentence shouldn’t be longer than 15 years.
“The length of the sentence can be 15 years at most, considering the mitigating circumstances listed in your verdict from January 25, 2012,” Lazarevic said.
Lazarevic filed a request to terminate custody measures for his client. He also filed a request to renew the trial, which appeals chamber chair Hilmo Vucinic said would be referred to a special chamber.
The appeals chamber will come to a decision concerning the sentence at a later stage.
