This post is also available in: Bosnian
In a first-instance verdict on Wednesday, the Bosnian state court in Sarajevo convicted ten wartime Bosnian Serb Army soldiers of killing 24 Bosniak villagers in June 1992 after first forcing them to dig their own grave.
Ranko Balaban, Ratko Goranja, Nikola Reljic, Mirko Odzic, Ranko and Dragan Baltic were sentenced to 18 years in prison each. Rajko Karlica, Milenko Brcin and Milenko Babic were each given 15 years, while Miroslav Kapetanovic was sentenced to nine years.
The court found that, after the funeral on June 22, 1992 of a Serb soldier who had been killed, all the defendants, acting as an armed group consisting of more than 20 soldiers, headed to the villages of Alici and Ekici.
They forced Bosniak civilians to come out of their houses, threatening them with death, shooting and yelling at them, and then took them to the Orthodox cemetery, where they kicked and hit the men with rifle butts and their fists while the women and children were watching.
“They then separated around 90 men [from the others] and took them to the Muslim cemetery, where they forced them to dig a grave and stand around it, after which the armed soldiers got an order to form a firing squad and start shooting,” said presiding judge Lejla Konjic Dragovic.
A total of 24 men were killed.
“The defendants have been found guilty because, knowing about the existence of a widespread and systematic attack, which was aimed at persecuting the non-Serb population, they contributed to it with their actions,” said Konjic Dragovic.
The court’s judgment relied on the testimony of witnesses Stojan Kenjalo, Zoran Kenjalo and Dragan Balaban, who admitted guilt and made plea bargains with the prosecution.
Stojan Kenjalo and Balaban were each sentenced to seven years in prison and Zoran Kenjalo to five years.
When deciding on the length of the sentence, the court took into account as an aggravating circumstance the brutality with which the crime was committed.
“That is particularly reflected in the fact that they forced the civilians to dig their own grave, without any empathy,” judge Konjic Dragovic said.
He added that the fact that the defendants were affected by the Serb soldier’s funeral was taken into account as a mitigating circumstance.
The verdict can be appealed.
