Bosnian Serb Fighter Convicted of Wartime Rape

Savic was found guilty on Monday of twice taking the woman at gunpoint from her home to the Krivoglavci station in Vogosca where he forced her to give him oral sex and then raped her in his car.

“The trial chamber determined the guilt of the defendant based on the statement of protected witness A [the victim], which was detailed and convincing,” said presiding judge Mira Smajlovic.

“Witness A truthfully described both incidents of sexual abuse which the defendant committed,” she added.

Smajlovic said that the witness was left pregnant after the first rape in May 1993, and had to abort the pregnancy after the second abuse in June 1993.

She added that certain inconsistencies in witness A’s statement highlighted by the defence, such as whether the victim was raped prior to 1993 were not important in this case.

When determining the eight-year sentence, Smajlovic said the court viewed as mitigating circumstances the fact that Savic was a family man with three children who had no prior arrests. As aggravating circumstances, Smajlovic cited the ruthlessness of the crime, in which Savic exploited witness A’s powerlessness.

“As a member of a nationality which was a minority at the time in Vogosca, witness A feared for her daughter and her own life,” said the judge.

The woman’s 11-year-old daughter was with her both times she was seized.

“The defendant placed a gun under the throat of the witness which caused traumas for the witness and her child. It is also worth mentioning the trauma of the forced pregnancy and the abortion,” Smajlovic said.

Savic was ordered to pay the victim 15,000 euro in damages for the pain she suffered.

The verdict can be appealed.