Bosnian State Court Accepts Derventa Plea Deal

The court accepted the plea agreement on Monday, which stipulates that Lipovac will receive a sentence ranging from six and a half to eight years in prison.

The sentence will be handed down on Tuesday morning.

Lipovac signed the plea agreement in December 2015, which laid out a six year prison sentence.

However, the state court rejected this deal, claiming that the proposed sentence was too short considering the severity of the crime, which involved the death of two victims and the wounding of two injured parties.

Prosecutor Milorad Barasin said the prosecution believes there are a number of mitigating circumstances in the case.

“The defendant was very young at the time of crime and showed remorse and correctness during the negotiations,” Barasin said.

Lipovac’s defense attorney, Davor Silic, said his client was a family man and the father of three children.

“I want to express my remorse to the victims one more time,” Lipovac said.

Lipovac was arrested in the Netherlands in May 2014 and was extradited to Bosnia in November 2015.

The state prosecution indicted Lipovac in 2008, charging him with participating in killings, acts of abuse and the theft of Serb civilians held in the Poljari detention camp in Derventa in June 1992.

According to the charges, Lipovac was a member of the 103 Brigade of the Croatian Defence Council and the commander of the detention camp in Poljari’s elementary school.