Bosnian Serb Fighter Jailed for Wartime Murder

The district court in Banja Luka on Monday found Konjevic guilty of killing Remzija Hajdarevic, who was 19 at the time of the murder on August 31, 1992 and did not belong to any military group.

He committed the murder together with another soldier, who has since died.

“The trial chamber accepts the statements from the witnesses who saw the murder and who confirmed that Konjevic killed Hajdarevic,” said presiding judge Olga Pantic.

“The defence called 21 witnesses who testified that Konjevic was on the frontline during the murder, but the trial chamber believes these testimonies were motivated towards protecting the defendant,” Pantic said.

She said that the court accepted as mitigating circumstances the fact that a long time had passed since the killing, that Konjevic without previous convictions, and that he acted with dignity during the trial.

“On the other hand, Konjevic killed a very young man by firing 11 shots into his back,” she said.

The verdict can be appealed at the supreme court in Bosnia’s Serb-led entity Republika Srpska.