Almost 500 Years of Imprisonment for War Crime Convicts in 2015

The majority of the defendants were charged with crimes committed in Visegrad, the village of Trusina near Konjic, and the Dretelj military prison near Capljina. Fifteen people were sentenced to 165 years in prison for crimes committed at these sites. The largest individual sentences were given to Dragomir Soldat, Velimir Djuric and Zoran Babic for crimes committed in Carakovo, near Prijedor.

Twenty-five defendants were sentenced under second instance verdicts. Nine verdicts were reduced due to the incorrect application of law during sentencing, namely in cases where the Bosnian criminal code was used rather the Yugoslav criminal code.

In 2015, one sentence was handed down as the result of a plea agreement. Radivoje Soldo signed a plea agreement with the state prosecution and was sentenced to five years in prison for an incident of wartime rape he committed in Konjic.

“I’m sorry that all this has happened. I’m sorry and I really sincerely apologize for everything that has happened,” Soldo said.

Damir Lipovac, a former member of the 103rd Brigade of the Croatian Defense Council, was extradited from the Netherlands under charges of war crimes. He also signed a plea agreement with the state prosecution for crimes he committed in Derventa. In January 2016, the state court will review the agreement. There are on-going negotiations with Dario Slavuljica to obtain a plea agreement for crimes he committed in Teslic.

One war crimes suspect fled in 2015. Nedeljko Matic was arrested in June 2015 on suspicion of having committed war crimes in Ljubuski, but the state court did not order him into custody.

Hallmark decisions issued by the state court’s Department for War Crimes ordered three convicted defendants to pay compensation to survivors of wartime rape, the first compensation payments of their kind to be prescribed by the state court.

For the first time in the last ten years of the state court’s history, a trial chamber found that there was no reasonable suspicion to convict a defendant of wartime rape in the Odzak area.

Longest Sentences Issued for War Crimes in Carakovo

273 years of imprisonment were imposed through second instance verdicts. The longest verdicts have been issued to Dragomir Soldat, Velimir Djuric and Zoran Babic, who were found guilty of killing nine civilians in the village of Carakovo in front of a mosque on July 23, 1992, which they then set on fire. They were sentenced to 21 years of imprisonment respectively. Babic’s earlier verdict for war crimes he committed at Koricanske Stijene was combined to the verdict in this case, resulting in a 35 year prison sentence.

“Burned portions of the mosque’s wooden roof fell on the bodies of Husein Susic, Rasim Susic, Emir Causevic, Husein Kljajic, Hasib Music, Avdo Mujdzic, Kemal Kahteran, Sulejman Dizdarevic and Zekir Music, who were there and died of their injuries,” the verdict reads.

On July 23, 1992, Soldat and two other soldiers also abducted a civilian named Mirzan Mujdzic from his home. Soldat ordered one of the soldiers to kill him.

The lowest prison sentence this year was given to Ivo Raguz for war crimes committed in the Dretelj military prison near Capljina. He was sentenced to three years in prison for his participation in the interrogation and beating of four prisoners in 1993.

“When blood flowed from Semir Balavac’s mouth and nose, Ivo Raguz put a handfull of salt in his mouth and nose,” the verdict reads.

A total of 194 years of imprisonment for war crimes were issued under first-instance verdicts. Only convicted defendats Ostoja Markovic, Bosiljko Markovic, and Slavko Savic are obliged to pay 56,500 Convertible Marks in damages to two victims of wartime rape.

Ostoja and Bosiljko Markovic have been sentenced to ten years in prison respectively for wartime rape committed in Kotor Varos, while Savic has been sentenced to eight years in prison for wartime rape committed in Vogosca. These verdicts were reached thanks to the legal aid of non governmental organization TRIAL.

However, it’s unclear whether the victims will receive their compensation. If the verdict is upheld and the convicts fail to compensate the victims, the court will initiate proceedings to force them to do so. All three defendants are exempt from trial costs because of their low incomes.

“He doesn’t have possessions. He has nothing to his name, so it is very difficult [to enforce payment],” said Nevenka Vitomir, Savic’s defense attorney.

At one of the trial hearings, the state prosecutor and the defense teams said the defendants didn’t have permanent jobs.

Attorney Nedzla Sehic, who filed claims for compensation on behalf of the victims through TRIAL, will seek a statement of the convicts’ assets under penalty responsibility. TRIAL hopes for a positive outcome.

The state court handed down verdicts against two women. Marina Grubisic-Fejzic was sentenced to five years in prison for war crimes in Dretelj, which included forcing two detainees to rape each other. Indira Kameric was sentenced to three years in prison for participating in the abuse of prisoners at the city stadium in Bosanski Brod.

Glavas: Alibi Ignored, Released Amidst Trial Proceedings

Seventeen defendants were granted acquittals this year. Four of them were released under second instance verdicts and 13 were released after first instance proceedings. The state court released Pavo Glavas from custody in the middle of trial proceedings, because the trial chamber concluded that there were no reasonable grounds to suspect he raped two women in Odzak in June 1992.

Glavas was arrested in the spring of last year. During his questioning by the state prosecution, he claimed he was in Switzerland when the rapes were committed.

Defense attorney Branka Praljak said Glavas offered his passport and other documentation to confirm his alibi, but prosecutor Miroslav Janjic didn’t want to review them. The defense also called upon the same documentation when the state court was making decisions regarding custody measures against Glavas.

Prosecutor Miroslav Janjic indicted Glavas and the presiding judge at the preliminary hearing confirmed the indictment. Glavas was placed into custody and presented his evidence during the trial proceedings.

The trial chamber extended his stay in custody on the basis of the conclusion arrived at by the judge at the preliminary hearing. The chamber determined that a reasonable suspicion existed after considering the indictment and the evidence submitted by the state prosecution against Glavas, primarily witness testimony. The trial chamber didn’t question this reasoning until Glavas submitted evidence on his wartime whereabouts in September 2015.

The defense presented Glavas’s passport as material evidence, which included his Swiss work permit as well as border stamps from his entry and departure from Switzerland. The work permit indicated that he had permission to work in Switzerland from April 1 to December 12, 1992. Evidence indicating his work hours and salaries until June 1992 were also submitted by the defense.

The trial chamber then released Glavas from custody on the grounds that the degree of reasonable doubt in his case had substantially changed. In the middle of December 2015, Glavas was acquitted under a first instance verdict.