Bosnia Requests Djukic Serves his Sentence in Serbia
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The state court has confirmed that a request has been sent to Serbia to recognize a verdict which sentenced Djukic to 20 years in prison. Djukic was convicted of murders committed in Kapija in Tuzla. The request was sent to Serbia through the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina in late October 2015.
The higher instance court in Belgrade will consider the request to recognize the verdict and has scheduled a hearing for tomorrow.
Djukic’s attorney, Milorad Konstantinovic, told the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) of Bosnia and Herzegovina that the defense would ask the court to reject the request of the Bosnian authorities.
“In cases like this one, the Serbian court simply cannot go into specifics of the sentence, but it can only accept or refuse the Bosnia and Herzegovina’s request. We shall request that the Belgrade court to request that complete documentation on the case be submitted from Sarajevo. We hope that in that way the court will realize the rights were violated because the trial was unfair,” Konstantinovic said.
Konstantinovic said the defense would probably ask the Bosnian state court to renew the trial following this hearing, considering the fact that it had conducted an independent ballistic examination. According to the defense attorney, this evidence proved Djukic’s innocence.
Djukic, the former commander of the Ozren Tactical Group of the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS), was found guilty of ordering an artillery squad to shell Tuzla with cannons on May 25, 1995. A grenade that was fired at Kapija in Tuzla killed 71 persons.
He was released from prison in February 2014, after the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina repealed a verdict which sentenced to 25 years due to wrong application of law. The state court reduced the sentence against Djukic to 20 years in June 2014. A few days later, his defense attorney informed the court that the convict was undergoing medical treatment in Serbia.
A warrant was issued against him in October 2014, because he failed to respond to calls to come and serve his sentence.
Sinan Alic, the president of the association “Truth, Justice, Reconciliation” from Tuzla, said he “isn’t optimistic that Serbia will recognize the Bosnian state court’s verdict.”
“In some previous cases associated with war crimes we saw that some obscure decisions were made. Djukic has been at liberty for a long time, so I am not optimistic, but we shall certainly follow this hearing,” Alic said.
