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Andrija Bjelosevic. Photo: BIRN BiH
Bosnia’s state court in Sarajevo on Monday found Andrija Bjelosevic not guilty of raping a Bosniak woman at least four times at the restaurant Zaba (The Frog) in the northern town of Derventa between November 1992 and April 1993, while he was head of the Doboj Security Service Centre.
According to the verdict, the judges could not establish beyond reasonable doubt that Bjelosevic had committed the crime.
The judges stated that the woman was undeniably a victim of wartime sexual violence, but that the reliability of her testimony about the actions of the accused was called into question.
The court also could not establish beyond doubt that the event occurred during the period specified in the indictment.
Presiding judge Darko Samardzic stated that the court found that the statements of the victim and another witness were “harmonised in terms of decisive facts” but differed from the statements of other witnesses.
The court ruled that the victims’ testimony could not be evaluated as credible, reliable or objective.
Samardzic also remarked that, with a few exceptions, all the prosecution witnesses have family ties with the victim or with one of the witnesses, Milivoj Novic.
The judges said they could not give credence to witnesses who are close relatives of the injured party because those statements were in line with what she had told them. The judges also could not give credence to witnesses who were related to Novic.
It was further stated by the judges that defence witnesses spoke about the animosity of Novic towards the accused.
The verdict can be appealed.
In a separate case, a few months ago, Bjelosevic was acquitted of charges related to crimes against humanity in the area of Doboj and Teslic by the first-instance verdict.
