Bosnian War Convicts ‘Free for Months Before Jail’

War crimes convicts sentenced to jail terms by the Bosnian state court wait for as long as five months to be sent to prisons because of procedural delays, BIRN has learned.

“If everything goes according to the normal schedule, the timeframe is five months,” said Miodrag Stojanovic, a lawyer who represents war crimes defendants.

“Once a verdict has become legally binding, the Bosnian state court submits the entire file to an officer for the execution of criminal sanctions of the court in the convict’s place of residence. Depending on their promptness, the courts then invite the convicts to start serving their sentence,” Stojanovic explained.

The state court confirmed that Zeljko Stanarevic, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison for wartime crimes in Bihac, Dragan Marinkovic, who was sentenced to eight years for crimes in Milici, and Dragoje Zmijanjac, who got six years for crimes in Prijedor, are still awaiting the execution of their sentences to begin.

The court handed down the second-instance verdict in the case of Marinkovic on April 17, in the case of Zmijanjac on May 23 and in the case of Stanarevic on June 5.

It insisted however that the process of sending convicts to serve their sentences was in line with the law.

“There is no priority list for sending people to prisons in order to serve their sentences on the basis of the duration of those sentences,” the court said in a statement.

Arrest warrants have been issued for some convicts who absconded after being sentenced.

Warrants have been issued for Novak Djukic, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for committing crimes in Tuzla, Momir Savic, who got 17 years for crimes in Visegrad, Mirko Todorovic, who was sentenced to 13 years for crimes in Bratunac, and Bosko Lukic, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison for crimes in Kljuc.

Bakira Hasecic, president of the Women – Victims of War association, argued that convicts should be sent to prison direct from the courtroom after being sentenced.

“Did they follow legal procedures when they decided to rape, slaughter and burn people alive?” Hasecic asked.

She called for the legal procedures to be changed.

Stojanovic argued however that most convicts have no interest in delaying the start of their sentences.

“They are waiting to be sent to prisons and want to complete the sentences ahead of them. When an imprisonment sentence is postponed for a month or two, it just extends and deepens the agony they are going through,” he said.