Bosnian Soldiers Appeal Krajina War Crimes Convictions

The Bosnian prosecution on Monday called for a retrial and a “lengthy punishment” for the accused, while defence lawyers requested either a retrial or a direct acquittal.

Selimovic, Ruznic and Mustafic were convicted in September last year of physically and mentally abusing prisoners while they were working as interrogators in the Luka, Adil Besic and Hotel Park detention centres in the north-western town of Bihac, as well as the Rad auto-repair shop in Cazin between 1994 and 1996.

Selimovic and Ruznic were sentenced to eight years in jail, and Mustafic to nine years.

According to the indictment, Selimovic was a desk officer for counter-intelligence affairs and deputy head of the security department of the Fifth Corps of the Bosnian Army, Ruznic was a deputy commander in the security services and Mustafic was a military policeman.

Ruznic’s lawyer requested an acquittal or a retrial, while the other men’s lawyers asked for a retrial.

Mustafic said that he had never even raised his voice to anyone.

“I am an artist and I’ve been living like that my whole life,” he explained.

Asim Crnalic, Selimovic’s lawyer, said interrogation was “legal business”.

“In our case, not only did we not commit a serious violation, but not even a light one,” he said, adding that the trial chamber did not establish that witnesses suffered emotional trauma which would prevent them from living a normal life.

In the prosecution’s opinion, stated prosecutor Ozrenka Neskovic, Selimovic and Ruznic were responsible for the situation in the detention centres in Krajina.

“The Trial Chamber made a mistake when it stated that they were not responsible,” she said.

Ruznic’s lawyer, Alaga Bajramovic, called the verdict incomprehensible and said that the trial chamber did not take into consideration statements from significant witnesses for Ruznic’s defence.

“It is not true that in the case of 11 prisoners he gestured to unknown soldiers to slap them and hit them. Statements from these 11 witnesses are not truthful,” he said.

The court will rule on the appeals at a later date.