Bosnia Jails Croatian Defence Council Fighter for Rape

“[Victim] Milica Djekic described the event in a detailed and convincing manner,” said trial chamber chairman Milos Babic.

The court however acquitted Juric of the two counts on which he was charged with the physical mistreatment of civilians.

Under the first-instance verdict in November 2015, Juric was acquitted of all the charges. The appeals chamber quashed the verdict and ordered a retrial.

As the defendant was acquitted at the end of the first-instance trial, the defence and prosecution can appeal against Monday’s verdict to a third-instance chamber.

The state court in Sarajevo on Monday also sentenced former Bosnian Serb soldier Dragan Glogovac to four years in prison for committing crimes in the Zavidovici area.

Glogovac was found guilty of having caused severe physical pain and suffering to civilians who were held in the basement of the Franjo Herljevic hunters’ lodge in Kamenica in the Zavidovici area from June 1992 to the end of August, acting in collaboration with other soldiers.

“It is true that prosecution witnesses’ testimonies were different in some segments, but not in important elements that would cast doubt on the defendant’s criminal responsibility,” said presiding judge Halil Lagumdzija.

The court found that, on July 3, 1992, Glogovac and two other soldiers beat victims Ahmedin and Zuhdija Memcic all over their bodies in Kamenica.

Glogovac was found guilty of having deliberately caused physical pain to the Memcic brothers from July 3 to August 16, 1992.

The brothers said the defendant used to beat them with his both hands on their ears, so they lost their hearing. They said that they still suffer the consequences.

Glogovac was also found guilty of having beaten up Besir Softic, Sedin Luzic and Mehmed Hodzic on July 21, 1992.

The verdict can be appealed.