Bosnian Serb Soldiers’ Crimes Against Humanity Sentences Upheld

The Bosnian Constitutional Court. Photo: Constitutional Court.

The Constitutional Court rejected Momir and Petar Tasic’s claim that they were not given a fair trial and upheld the verdict sentencing them to 14 years and five years in prison respectively for crimes against humanity.

The court’s ruling, issued on January 12, said that “the disputed verdicts were explained and clear, the way the facts were determined and evidence assessed did not give an impression of arbitrariness, and nothing pointed to the violation of the right to a fair trial as a whole; the decision was not based on unlawful evidence, nor were the appellants deprived of the right to a defence”.

Momir Tasic was found guilty of involvement in the forcible disappearance of six Bosniak civilians and of raping a woman in the Visegrad area in June 1992, while Petar Tasic was convicted of involvement in the forcible disappearance of the six Bosniaks.

The prosecution alleged that they arrested, tortured and abused the Bosniaks and then took them in the direction of the western Serbian town of Uzice, after which they disappeared.

Both men were members of the Visegrad Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army.

A third defendant, Mirko Tasic, was acquitted of all charges at the original trial.