Analysis: A Year of Progress over War Crimes

In the fourth year of its work on war crime indictees, the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina pronounced more indictments than ever before, including 17 first-instance and six second-instance ones.

The Court pronounced its first verdict this year for the genocide committed in 1995 in Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia and for the crimes committed in the Prijedor detention camps in northwest Bosnia. It also signed its first guilt admission agreements with war crime indictees.

The large number of persons suspected of war crimes who were arrested in 2008 represented another success. At the same time, the protests organized by victims of the war, voicing dissatisfaction with the work of judicial institutions, needs to be noted.

Another outstanding problem is the continuing lack of an agreement between countries in the region on the extradition of indictees. The State Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina filed several indictments, confirmed by the Court, against persons charged with war crimes residing in neighbouring countries and who have dual citizenships. They remain out of reach.

Another problem arises from the continuing lack of a special war crimes prison in Bosnia with the capacities and security measures to hold all persons convicted before this Court.

In its annual report, the International Center for Transitional Justice, ICTJ, noted that the judiciary made some progress in 2008. The report named the War Crimes Chamber of the State Court as crucial in helping the country to confront its difficult and traumatic recent past.

However,the ICTJ also noted that the Chamber has so far mainly tried low-ranking perpetrators, in spite of the fact that the original idea behind the State Court was for it to deal with the “most sensitive” cases.
Important verdicts:

Over the course of the year, the State Court pronounced verdicts against 49 persons, sentencing them to just over 688 years’ imprisonment in total.

The most important verdict was pronounced in July at the end of a two-year trial against 11 former members of the Second Special Police Squad from Sekovici and the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, charged with genocide in Srebrenica.

The indictment, filed in Sarajevo, alleged that the 11 indictees took part in the execution of about 1,000 civilians in Kravica warehouse, in Bratunac, eastern Bosnia, in July 1995.

The Trial Chamber found three indictees guilty and sentenced each to 42 years’ imprisonment. Three others were jailed for 40 years each and one to 38 years. Four indictees were acquitted. This was the biggest trial concerning the crimes committed in Srebrenica, as well as the first ever trial for genocide to take place in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the course of 2008, the State Court also pronounced a verdict on several men who took part in the persecution and murder of Bosniaks from Srebrenica held in detention centres in Bratunac after July 11, 1995.

In November, it pronounced a first-instance verdict against Mladen Blagojevic, sentencing him to seven years’ imprisonment. Three others, Zdravko Bozic, Zeljko Zaric and Zoran Zivanovic, were acquitted. The four were former members of the Military Police Squad with the Bratunac Light Infantry Brigade of the VRS.

At the end of a trial, which lasted more than 18 months, a first-instance verdict was also pronounced for crimes committed in the detention camps in Prijedor. Dusko Knezevic was sentenced in May to 31 years, Zeljko Mejakic to 21 and Momcilo Gruban to 11 years’ imprisonment.

The State Prosecution charged the three with the forcible detention, murder, rape, physical and mental abuse and disappearances of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats from Omarska and Keraterm detention camps in 1992.

Mejakic, described in the verdict as the highest-ranking official in Omarska, was sentenced on the basis of personal and command responsibility, Gruban, a guard shift commander in this detention camp, on the basis of command responsibility only, while Knezevic, who held no function in these detention camps, was sentenced on the basis of personal responsibility.

This trial generated controversy after the Prosecution concluded a guilt admission agreement with Dusan Fustar shortly before the trial ended. He was then sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment. The indictment alleged that Fustar was a guard shift commander in Keraterm.

Fustar was released until the pronouncement of the second-instance verdict. This prompted a group of surviving detainees and their families to come to the State Court on the day of the verdict to express dissatisfaction.

Appeals, reduced sentences andretrials:
This year, a first-instance verdict was pronounced in the case of Mitar Rasevic, former guard commander in the Correctional Facility, in Foca, eastern Bosnia, and Savo Todovic, former deputy commander of this institution.

As per a decision of the Hague Tribunal, the case was transferred in 2007 to the local judiciary for further processing. Rasevic was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years and Todovic to 12-and-a-half years in prison for their part in crimes committed in Foca.

Both the prosecution and defence appealed the verdict, asking the Appellate Chamber to order a retrial. Todovic’s defence said it would not contest “a less severe punishment”. Both men remain at liberty, awaiting the Chamber’s decision.

Sefik Alic, former member of the Bosnian Army, ABiH, Zdravko Mihaljevic, former member of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, and Suad Kapic, former member of the ABiH, were acquitted by first-instance verdicts of responsibility for crimes against prisoners of war and civilians in Krajina and Kiseljak in 1992 and 1995.

An appeal was filed in Kapic’s case and, after considering it, the Appellate Chamber ordered a retrial. The Prosecution appealed the verdict against Mihaljevic but a final decision is still pending. It has been announced that the verdict against Sefik Alic will also be appealed.

In December 2008, the State Court passed down a second-instance verdict against Kreso Lucic, former HVO member, acquitting him of crimes against humanity in the Kresevo municipality. A first-instance verdict in September 2007 had sentenced Lucic to six years’ imprisonment. However, the Appellate Chamber said the Prosecution had failed to prove “the general elements of crimes against humanity, such as existence of a broad and systematic attack by the HVO army and police in the Kresevo area”.

“On the basis of numerous pieces of evidence, it has been determined that the ABiH attacked Kresevo and some surrounding villages on June 17, 1993. We should stress, however, that this attack cannot be used as justification by other people to commit crimes,” the decision stated.

A second-instance verdict was pronounced against Jadranko Palija, former member of the Military Police Squad with the Sixth Krajina VRS Brigade, sentencing him to 28 years’ imprisonment for having taken part in crimes committed in Sanski Most area. The Appellate Chamber increased the original sentence against Nikola Andrun, sentencing him to 18 instead of 13 years’ imprisonment, for crimes committed in Gabela detention camp, near Mostar.

Marko Samardzija, former VRS member, was originally sentenced to 26 years’ imprisonment for crimes committed in Kljuc but the Appellate Chamber reduced his sentence to seven years.

The sentence was also reduced in the case of Nenad Tanaskovic, member of the Public Safety Station in Visegrad, sentenced for crimes committed in that town. His term was cut from 12 to 8 years. The same happened in the case of Radmilo Vukovic, a former VRS member, acquitted by second-instance verdict of charges of rape of a woman in Foca in 1992.

In September 2008, the Appellate Chamber revoked part of a first-instance verdict, which found brothers Rajko and Ranko Vukovic, former members of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina forces, found guilty in February of crimes committed in the Foca area in 1992. They are at liberty, awaiting retrial.

New indictments:

In 2008, the State Court has confirmed 25 indictments against 29 persons.

One was an indictment for having taken part in organizing and abetting a group of people to commit genocide, filed against Vinko Kondic, Marko Adamovic and Bosko Lukic. The Prosecution charges the three men with having taken part in a joint criminal enterprise in 1991 and 1992.

In May, the trial started of Gojko Klickovic, Jovan Ostojic and Mladen Drljaca, charged with crimes committed in Bosanska Krupa in 1992. Klickovic, who was a senior official with the Serbian Democratic Party and commander of the Crisis Committee in Bosanska Krupa in the war, is the highest-ranking official currently tried before the State Court.

Indictments have also been confirmed against Damil Lipovac, Ivan Hrkac and Milisav Gavric, but they are on the run. The Prosecution charges Lipovac and Hrkac, former HVO members, with crimes against civilians and prisoners of war committed in Derventa and Siroki Brijeg, while Gavric, a former VRS member, is charged with crime against humanity “in connection to genocide” in the Srebrenica area. Lipovac is allegedly in The Netherlands, Hrkac in Croatia and Gavric in Serbia.

Controversy over guilt admission agreements:

Of particular importance in the work of the State Court this year were guilt-admission agreements concluded between some indictees and the War Crimes Chamber.

The first such agreement was concluded with Idhan Sipic, former ABiH member, in February 2008, after which he was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for crimes committed in Kljuc in 1995. “I am guilty and I feel sorry for what I did,” Sipic said.

In March 2008, after having said that he wanted to “cut the agony, which makes him sleepless”, Veiz Bjelic, former member of the Territorial Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, admitted guilt and signed a guilt admission agreement with the State Prosecution, He was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for crimes committed in Vlasenica.

After having been transferred from The Hague, Pasko Ljubicic, former commander of the Fourth HVO Military Police Battalion, was tried in Sarajevo. Towards the end of his trial, Ljubicic concluded a guilt admission agreement with the Prosecution. Pasko was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment after he admitted having taken part in crimes against civilians from the Vitez area. Ljubicic promised to provide the State Prosecution with documents he possessed and “help in further efforts on revealing the truth” concerning events in the Lasva valley, in central Bosnia.

In September and October 2008, after Slavko Sakic, former HVO member from Bugojno, and Vaso Todorovic, former VRS member, admitted guilt, they were sentenced to eight-and-a-half and six years’ imprisonment respectively.

Each agreement generated controversy. In an analysis of this subject, legal experts voiced criticism of the practice to Justice Report. They said the guilt admission agreements concluded before the War Crimes Chamber of the State Court “do not contribute to fulfillment of justice, because the rights of injured parties have been marginalized, while the purpose of the agreements is unclear”.

Elvedin Kermo of the “April 16, 1992–1995” Association from Ahmici said his group considered that the agreements “represent some form of a betrayal of victims”.

Acting on warrants issued by the State Prosecution, the State Investigation and Protection Agency, SIPA, arrested several war-crime suspects in the course of 2008.

Eight persons were arrested, in May and October, under suspicion that they had participated in murder of about 200 Bosniaks at Koricanske stijene, on mount Vlasic,on August 21, 1992.

Radoje Lalovic and Soniboj Skiljevic were arrested due to suspicion that, as managers of the Correctional Facility in Kula, they committed crimes against humanity in the Facility from 1992 to 1995. The Prosecution indicted them in mid December. They are at liberty, awaiting trial.

During the year, the State Court issued an international warrant against Veselin “Batko” Vlahovic, who has been on the run for several years already. He is linked to a number of crimes against civilians committed in the Grbavica area of Sarajevo. Available data suggest Vlahovic is in Montenegro. As he has citizenship of that country, he cannot be extradited. However, it must be noted that there has been no firm confirmation that Vlahovic is indeed on the territory of this neighbouring country.