Bosnian Serb Soldier Jailed for Wartime Rape

The cantonal court in Sarajevo on Friday convicted Djurovic of the rape of Zibija Sulejmanovic, a Bosniak woman, in the Vraca neighborhood of Sarajevo in 1992 after he threatened to kill the woman and her child if she resisted.

“The trial chamber believed the testimony of Sulejmanovic. An expert concluded she is not capable of testifying, so her statement was read in court,” said presiding judge Indira Jahic.

The judge added that the victim’s partner Asef Besic confirmed that Djurovic took Sulejmanovic from their home in Vraca.

Jahic said the trial chamber did not accept the defence’s claims that the defendant was getting treatment for an illness at the time, because the records do not match the time of the crime.

Explaining the length of the sentence, Jahic said that Djurovic had been convicted of 11 different crimes before, including another rape.

“All of these sentences have not stopped him from committing crimes… He was sentenced to eight years for rape during peacetime. Now he is convicted of a more serious crime, so the chamber finds that a sentence of nine-and-a-half years fits the crime,” said Jahic.

She added that the rape had serious consequences for the victim, and that the trauma was passed on to her partner and child.

She said the court could not find any mitigating circumstances other than the fact that Djurovic behaved well during the trial.

Djurovic is currently serving another sentence and the cantonal court said that he will remain incarcerated until he starts serving the new one.

The verdict can be appealed at the Bosnian Federation supreme court.