Bosnian Serb Fighters’ Convictions for Deadly Village Attack Upheld

Zecovi. Photo: BIRN BiH

The appeals chamber of the Bosnian state court has upheld the first-instance verdict sentencing Dusan Milunic to 12 years in prison, Ilija Zoric to 20 years, Zoran Stojnic to eight years, Zoran Milunic to 14 years and Ljubisa Cetic to five years for crimes against humanity, a defence lawyer told BIRN.

Dusan Milunic was found guilty of forced relocations in his capacity as commander of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Rasavacka Company.

Stojnic was convicted of killing one civilian during the village attack, while Zoran Milunic was found guilty of participating, together with others, in killing three civilians. Cetic was convicted of inflicting severe mental and physical suffering on a civilian by hitting them.

According to the verdict, Zoric and others went to a house where women and children were staying and then opened fire, killing all of them apart from a 15-year-old who hid on a horse cart and survived.

Savan Zec, Dusan Milunic’s lawyer, said the court rejected the prosecution’s appeal against the first-instance verdict in its entirety, but partially accepted the appeals of his client, as well as those of Stojnic and Zoran Milunic over counting the time spent in custody as part of their sentences.

The court acquitted six other men, Radovan Cetic, Zeljko Grbic, Bosko and Rade Grujicic, Uros Grujcic and Rajko Gnjatovic, of all charges against them.

The long-running trial originally started in April 2015. Since then, two defendants – Zdravko Antonic and Radomir Stojnic – have died, so the proceedings against them were halted.

The proceedings against another defendant, Dusko Zoric, who was arrested in Germany for weapons offences, were separated from the case against the other defendants in December 2022.

The second-instance judgment cannot be appealed.