Bosnia Court Acquits Serb Ex-Soldiers of Kozarac Crimes

Bosnia’s State Court has acquitted Rade Vlasenko, Drago Koncar and Milan Krupljanin of charges of having killed Rajifa Memic and her mother, Radifa Kurtovic, in June 1992 in the Barakovac neighbourhood of Kozarac in northern Bosnia. They were acquitted due to lack of evidence.

The indictment said, together with a group of other Bosnian Serb soldiers, during the same month, they also killed Hasan and Hima Ahmetcehajic, Himza Velic, Ebil Mandzukic and Safet Muratcehajic in the Barakovac neighbourhood, shooting from firearms. The accused were acquitted on all counts.

Vlasenko also faced charges that, in the summer 1992, he took on as forced labour three Bosniak civilians from the Trnopolje detention camp, one of whom, Adem Filovic was killed.

However, the Trial Chamber rejected these charges against Vlasenko because he had already been tried on these grounds and could not be tried twice for the same crime.

In the earlier case, in 2017, the State Court acquitted Vlasenko and Drago Koncar in a final verdict of charges of having committed a crime against humanity in the Prijedor area in 1992.

This is a first-instance verdict on which there is a possibility of appeal.